


Nota Meus

by consalem



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Animagus, Animagus Harry Potter, Creature Harry Potter, Forced Bonding, Rape Aftermath, Rituals, Torture, familiar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:41:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26072071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consalem/pseuds/consalem
Summary: Harry is captured by Voldemort who decides to bind him into slavery instead of just killing him. Severus interferes in the ritual and a different kind of bond is formed.
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 11
Kudos: 66





	1. Chapter 1

**THE BEGINNING**

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose tightly and tried to drown out the voices yelling around him.

"Headmaster! What are we going to do? We need to find him! We need -"

"How did they know where he was going to be? I thought we were keeping the information for Hogsmeade weekends quiet until the last minute. How do we know Snape didn't -"

"Oh! My baby! My poor baby! Oh what if my Ronnie had been with them! He could have died! He could have -"

"Where is my Godson! How could you let this happen! He's only -"

"He's probably dead by now anyways. We should plan for -"

" _Enough_!," the bellow from the always soft spoken, genial headmaster was enough to silence everyone in the room immediately. Severus sighed in relief at the abrupt drop in noise levels.

"Panicking and running about like headless chickens will get us nowhere." He gazed around the room, meeting each person's eyes with his own piercing blue. "Now," Dumbledore turned to look at Severus to his left, "Severus, have you been called or do you have any information about how the Death Eaters were able to find out the time of the Hogsmeade outing, or where Harry might be now?"

"No, Albus. I've heard nothing in passing and I've not yet been called. If he truly does have the boy I imagine I will be called soon though."

Dumbledore hummed under his breath and nodded, "Very well. Keep me updated," he returned his attention to the rest of the room to begin asking the others if they had heard of anything unusual within their various positions.

Severus had to smother a snort. _Keep him updated_. As if that wasn't his sole reason for being here and not rotting away in Azkaban prison. Oh, he was sure Albus cared about him in his own way but only so much as a track owner cared about the horses. He would be looked after and cared about so long as he did his job and brought something useful into the equation. As soon as he ceased to do so he would become a liability and would be put down like a racehorse with a broken leg.

Severus tried valiantly to maintain at least the facade of a mere sneer throughout the rest of the meeting as opposed to the absolute loathing that he felt for at least half the people in the room and the entire situation in general.

"Well I think we've shared all we can at this point, but everybody keep an eye out." Dumbledore turned his gaze to meet Black's, "And nobody do anything foolish. I think I shall take my leave." With a sickeningly bright swirl of robes he stood and headed towards the fireplace, "Severus, if you will."

Beyond grateful to get out of the veritable lion's den Severus swiftly stood and followed him through the green flames.

* * *

Harry groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He could feel that he was laying on something cold and rough, a stone floor most likely. He quickly realized that he was completely naked and his wrists and ankles were encased in what felt like metal. Slowly sitting up the sound of clinking chains moved with him. He squinted his eyes attempting to see anything but wherever he was was completely lightless. His glasses were gone as well, not that they would have done him any good, and he could feel dried blood on the right side of his face that made his skin pull tight and his lashes stick together in clumps.

The last thing he had remembered was walking towards Honeyduke's with Hermione and Neville. Ron had had detention with McGonagall for fighting with Malfoy in the hallways and hadn't been able to come. They had just decided that they would go to the Three Broomsticks afterwards for lunch when all hell had broken loose. A loud _boom_ had sounded from further in the village and then dozens upon dozens of apparition _crack_ s could be heard. Dark robed figures in white masks had swarmed the town sending bright streams of light in every direction. Screams and cackles could be heard as students and residents ran for cover and desperately tried to defend themselves and the Death Eaters attacked with no mercy.

He had just thrown up a shield to stop a collapsing wall from crushing himself and the others and had turned to make sure Hermione and Neville were okay when he felt something strike his back with a burn and then he woke up wherever the hell he was now. The slight prickling in his scar gave him a pretty good idea of where he might be; or, if not where exactly, then definitely who with. He shuffled backwards until he felt a wall behind his back, just as cold and rough as the floor, and tried to examine the shackles around his wrists and ankles by touch alone, doing his best to suppress his shivers.

He was just feeling his way around his left wrist when he heard a loud clanking noise and a shriek of rusted hinges being opened. The sudden flood of light that flared to life blinded him and Harry hissed, ducking his head and rapidly blinking his watering eyes. The sharp sound of boot heels clacking on the stone floor forced his to turn his gaze up. He could see he was in a bare stone cell that was perhaps eight feet wide and equally deep with three stone walls and a wall of bars directly across from him that faced out into an empty stone hallway. 

The clicking of footsteps got louder with each reverberation until they stopped abruptly in front of Harry's cell.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in." The slick, oily, smugness of the voice caused Harry's upper lip to curl in disgust into a sneer that would have made Snape jealous.

He slowly got to his feet, using the wall behind him as support, ignoring the weight that dragged on his limbs and the clinking noises coming from the chains that bound him to the wall.

He shuffled towards the bars, being pulled to a stop about a foot before he could actually touch them, the chains pulled taught behind him, and stared the man in the eye. 

"Fuck. You." 

Lucius Malfoy's face remained mildly amused. Right up until the wad of blood tinged spit hit him just above his left eyebrow. 


	2. Chapter 2

**VOLDEMORT'S NEW PLAN**

"Albus, it's been four months. He was taken May 10th...It's September 23rd."

"Yes."

"I've not yet been called."

"I know."

And that truly was the most disturbing thing. Severus had been expecting to be called month's ago. Whether that be to witness the boy's death or to relay information, but either way it hadn't happened. He looked at Albus. The usually smiling, dotty old man had not handled the loss of his Golden Boy well. His skin seemed dry and papery, his lips always had the slightest purse to them, his robes, while still offensive in design, were not quite the neon monstrosities of norm. Most obvious was the lack of the ever present twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes. For once he looked his age and it unsettled Severus in way he wouldn't have thought possible.

"We must hold out hope. If Harry were dead, Tom would parade his body around as a trophy. He -" Dumbledore cut off as he stared at Severus intently. He was bent over, clutching his left arm to his chest, hissing through his teeth.

"Severus?"

Severus nodded shortly. He took one last deep breath, met Albus' eyes, then swept out of the room without a word.

* * *

"Ahh my dear Ssssseverussss. Sssso niccce of you to come keep usss company."

Severus contained the shudder that wanted to flow through him. Somehow not seeing the snake-like man for nearly five months made his presence now downright nauseating. "My Lord," he bowed low at the waist.

"I have need of a potion, Sssseverusss. A rather.....delicate brew." Voldemort leaned back in the large stone throne on the dias of the otherwise empty hall. His pale spidery fingers stroked gently across Nagini's head, the massive snake curled around the throne several times over.

"Of course, My Lord. Which potion would you like?" still bowed as he had not been given indication to rise.

"The  _ Obligant Omnes _ potion."

Severus sucked in a breath, "My Lord, that potion requires the blood of both the binder and the one to be bound."

"Yesss, I am aware. You will have both."

"The binder's blood must be in the base of the potion. May I ask, My Lord, who the binder will be so that I may obtain the necessary ingredient?"

" _ I _ will be the binder, Sssseveruss. You will be making the potion here sssso that I can be sssure nothing...untoward happensss during the brewing procccessss."

Severus ignored the twinges coming from his back and legs at holding the uncomfortable position for so long. "Of course, My Lord." He hesitated, hoping his next words wouldn't see him suffering at the end of the megalomaniac's wand. "My Lord?"

"What Ssseveruss?" Nagini lifted her large head to stare at Severus, flicking her tongue in and out rapidly.

"The  _ Obligant Omnes _ potion requires three weeks to brew, My Lord, and must be constantly monitored. I will not be able to leave Hogwarts for so long without an explanation to Dumbledore."

Voldemort hummed, twisting his wand between his fingers. "Very well. You will ssstay here during the Chrissstmasss holidaysss and complete the pottttion then. Thiss will alsssso give time for the othersss to finisssh the necessary preparationss."

"Thank you, My Lord."

"You may go Sssseveruss."

Severus deepened the bow until he was almost bent in half before straightening and swiftly leaving the room, thanking anything and everything that he had made it out without the telltale twitching and pain that came as the aftermath of the Cruciatus.

While on one hand it was a good thing that the Dark Lord was waiting until Christmas to proceed with whatever he was planning as it gave the Light the chance to maybe figure out a plan to either counteract, or at least mitigate, the results, on the other hand that meant that Potter would be in the Dark Lord's custody for at least the next three months. Even if they did manage some sort of miraculous rescue once Severus was close enough to him, he will have been in the tender care of the Death Eaters for more than seven months at that point. Severus very much questioned the notion that he would even be sane now, let alone three months from now.

Swiftly making his way to the apparition point just inside the main doors of the manor, Severus disapparated back to Hogwarts to give Dumbledore the good and bad news.

* * *

It was December 18th and the students would be boarding the train later that evening to head home for the holidays which officially started the next day. Severus was seated in the chair across from the Dumbledore in the Headmasters office, holding a cup of tea that had long since gone cold.

"We've made all the plans we can at this point, Severus. We both know there are far too many variables involved for a concrete decision on what to do." Dumbledore leaned back in his chair heavily with a sigh. "At this point, even a best case scenario is unlikely to be good. We will take what comes as it comes."

"I'm aware Albus." Severus fiddled with the teacup, staring into the semi-transparent liquid.

"What is it? You're thinking about something far too hard for it to be simple conjecture."

"It's just a thought," he paused, "Do you know if Potter is an animagus?"

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose and he stroked his beard in contemplation. "I'm really not sure. I believe that would have to be something to ask Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley about. This is relevant?"

"Very."

"Alright, give me a moment to request their company." Severus watched as Albus rummaged through a drawer to grab a quill and some parchment and scribbled a quick note. "Fawkes, if you wouldn't mind taking this to Miss Granger, I would appreciate it," he said with a smile as the large firebird swept from his perch to pluck the note from his hand and disappear in a flash of flame.

Dumbledore had just finished closing his drawer again when the bird flashed back into the room and settled on the perch. "They are on their way?" the Headmaster asked the phoenix. Fawkes trilled and Dumbledore relaxed back into the chair and set about fixing himself a fresh cup of tea from the set resting on the desk between them.

The two men sat in silence waiting, broken only by the sound of the small knick-knacks around the office making soft  _ whirring  _ and  _ churring _ noises, emitting the occasional puff of smoke here and there.

After what felt like an eternity to Severus but was really only about ten minutes, there was a tentative knock at the door. Severus finally put down the cup of cold tea as Dumbledore called for the two teens to enter.

The door swung open revealing a nervous Weasley and a worried looking Granger.

"Come in, come in," the Headmaster said as he conjured two chairs beside Severus' own, "Have a seat. We just have a question or two for you."

Granger looked thankful at having some direction to follow and quickly made her way to the seat in the middle, likely realizing the mistake it would be to have Weasley seated next to himself. Weasley was shooting him suspicious looks which Severus supposed the boy thought he was being subtle about but slowly made his way to the remaining chair on the far right of Severus.

Granger spoke up after a moment of quiet, "What questions can we help you with, Professors?"

"Ahh Miss Granger, straight to the point as always, but I'm afraid it is not I with the questions."

Granger's eyes widened a bit before she squared her shoulders and turned to face Severus, "What questions do you have, sir?"

Severus took a moment to compose himself, "Do you know if Mr. Potter is an animagus?"

"What?! That's none of your business, you greasy git!"

Granger whipped around to glare at Weasley before yelling indignantly, a scowl on her face, "Ronald Weasley! You can't speak to a professor like that!" 

Dumbledore was also frowning over the rims of his have moon glasses gravely, "Miss Granger is quite right, Mr. Weasley. It is unacceptable to speak to, or of, any of the faculty or, dare I say, anyone in such a way. Fifteen points from Gryffindor. Please do remember that the House Cup has not yet been announced and there is still plenty of time for the current rankings to change."

Weasley was blushing furiously, the red of his face making his freckles stand out and clashing horribly with his hair, "I'm sorry Professor."

"It is not I you should be apologizing to Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore met his eyes and glanced significantly over towards Severus before boring back into Weasley's.

The bright blush on the boy's face somehow burned even brighter as he turned towards Severus ever so slightly and glared mutinously at the floor, "I'm sorry, Professor."

Severus could hear his teeth grinding and his fists were clenched against his corduroy covered thighs. He sneered at the boy and muttered a quiet, "Pathetic," before dismissing him altogether and turning his attention back to the bushy haired girl beside him. "Well Miss Granger, my question stands. Do you know if Mr. Potter is an animagus?"

She nibbled her bottom lip and glanced between Dumbledore and Severus looking uncertain. 

Dumbledore spoke up, "Miss Granger, I assure this is not an attempt to get Mr. Potter into trouble. We need to know because it could very well affect some of the plans we have in motion."

She swallowed and closed her eyes, whispering, "Yes. Yes, Harry was - _is_ an animagus. He completed the transformation just after the start of last school year. Sirius had been sending him books and talking him through the process during the summer. He made us swear not to tell anyone because he wanted a back up plan incase the wards at the Dursley's failed for whatever reason. Shifting forms doesn't register with the Ministry so he would have a way to escape unnoticed." She shuddered slightly, "Not that it helped when he was captured."

Severus felt a small spark of something he dared not label as hope flare to life inside him, "What was his form?"

Granger really looked uncertain now, glancing between the two professors as if gauging their worthiness. When she still said nothing after a minute had gone by and her lip looked ready to split from her chewing he spoke again, "I don't need any identifying marks, Granger. I just need to know what species he is."

She still looked uncertain and Weasley spoke up again, "Hermione you can't! We promised Harry we wouldn't tell anyone."

"But it could help him, Ron." She turned to Severus, "Right? You said this could help him?"

He forced himself to stop imagining strangling the answers out of her and managed to answer her calmly, "Yes, Miss Granger. We are fairly certain of what the Dark Lord is planning to do to Mr. Potter and to be frank there were very few options open to us as solutions. If, as you say, he is an animagus, then it opens a new door," he hesitated for a moment. "I won't lie to you to spare your feelings, the chances that this would work are beyond slim, but quite honestly  _ if  _ it works, and that's a big if, then it will give us a better chance of getting him out alive than any of the other options.

The witch seemed to take his words to heart and, ignoring the fuming redhead behind her, spoke quietly, "Harry made us promise not to tell anyone because he didn't want anyone to have anything else to call abnormal about him. Once he achieved the animagus transformation he discovered he had a second form."

Dumbledore sucked in a deep breath, "There has not been a witch or wizard with a second natural animagus form since Salazar Slytherin, and Morgana LeFay before him."

Granger didn't look surprised at his words, she just nodded and continued, "When we realized how rare it was we did some research and put together that  _ all _ parslemouths who achieve the animagus form will be able to access a second form of a snake. If their normal animagus is a snake then they find they can shift into two different snakes. But access to that form only seems to be accessible once the person's magic has shifted form before."

Severus turned to Albus, "This might make it even more likely to succeed if the timing can be arranged just right. His body and magic are already more in tune with shifting forms than even a standard animagus' would be."

Dumbledore merely nodded and remained focussed on the girl in front of him, "And his forms, Miss Granger?"

"A raven and a black mamba, Professor."

"A mammal then," Severus muttered and leaned back in his chair to figure out where he would get the things necessary this close to his impending departure tomorrow. He heard the Headmaster finishing up the conversation with the two teens and sending them on their way but he didn't pull himself out of his contemplation enough to join the conversation, not that he would have even if he  _ had _ been fully present mentally.

"Well Severus, care to tell me what the new plan is?" Albus was stroking his beard looking like he had all the time in the world.

"He won't like it," Severus warned. Hell,  _ Severus _ didn't like it. But at the same time, it was infinitely better than any of the alternatives they had come up with. "The potion the ritual uses is also used in one other ritual. It has long since fallen out of practice but I remember looking into it when I did my apprenticeship because of the fact that there were two wildly dissimilar effects it can cause with the only difference being the actions required while administering the potion. The use that the Dark Lord is attempting will bind Potter to him in a severe form of slavery. The Dark Lord would be able to control his actions, magic, and even to an extent, his thoughts. The potion is the binding agent, it binds one beings mind, body, and magic to another's. The ritual is what gives it purpose and determines the type of bond formed. The potion, along with a similar but slightly different ritual, used to be used to bind an animal to a witch or wizard as a familiar. It's not been used in several hundred years in such a way because of the much shorter and less morally questionable Familiaris ritual that was developed in the early 1700s." Severus took a deep breath to steady himself for the next part of what he was about to say. "Once the ritual component has started, there is no way to stop it before completion without the bound party dying. No doubt the Dark Lord has had other followers moving forward with the ritual component that must be done before the potion is applied. At this point we cannot stop this without Potter dying. There is, however, a small - _very small -_ chance that if I can get close enough at just the right moment I could twist the ritual into the familiar binding ritual instead."

Severus had been avidly gazing at a blank spot of stone on the wall to his left the entire time he explained, not wanting to see how Albus may be reacting to what he was saying; now though he turned to face the Headmaster.

The man appeared to be deep in thought and the hand that had been stroking his long white beard all morning had fallen still against the silvery strands. Severus watched as he opened to his mouth, closed it, opened it again, paused, and then began slowly, "I was under the impression that it was not possible for witches and wizards, and indeed vampires, werewolves, goblins, centaurs, and so forth to be bound as familiars. The mind and magic is not compatible with such a process and any attempt in the past has resulted in the death of both the potential master and the potential familiar." Albus paused for a moment, then added, "Even in an animagus form such things have always failed."

Severus shifted now uncomfortably and looked back to his spot on the wall. "The reason I asked if Potter was an animagus is that there is a ... somewhat obscure potion and spell that could permanently change someone's species into that of an animal chosen before time. The catch is that the person being changed must already be an animagus, if their mind and magic has not already experienced the shift into the animal mindset voluntarily then they will not retain sanity, and the chosen animal must not be of the same species group as their animagus form as they will still be able to access the other form afterwards. In Potter's case he is of the reptile and aves families and therefore the chosen animal would make most sense to be a mammal."

"When you say he would permanently be changed into an animal, you mean he would no longer be a wizard? Biologically and magically?"

"Correct. Whatever his new species, he would become that animal in the truest form. He would still be able to shift into a human form but it would essentially be a third animagus form. Like with most animagi, he would retain certain traits from the form, much like how canine animagi have a tendency towards building packs and eating meat on the rare side even when human, he would likely retain most, if not all, of his human intelligence and knowledge. It would just be viewed through the mindset and instincts of the natural animal form."

"So. Your plan is to give him this potion and spell, change Harry's species into something else entirely, utterly destroying any semblance of a normal human life. Twist the ritual that Voldemort is planning, and what? Bind Harry to yourself as your familiar?"

Severus turned to meet the Headmasters gaze straight on, "Do you have a better idea?"

He watched as the Headmaster's shoulders slumped and the slightly righteous look on his face fell, replaced by a bone deep exhaustion, "No. No I don't. Alright Severus, what do you need for this potion to change his species? Merlin forgive me."

"The blood, skull, and heart of a strong healthy mammal, freshly killed, of the species you wish him to become. Everything else I have here. Once that has been acquired it will take about ten hours to brew and I should have it ready to go before I must leave for the Dark Lord's manor tomorrow. Assuming we can get a hold of the animal in the next three hours."

Albus hummed, resuming him beard stroking, though looking far more troubled than ever before. "Whatever it is should be a predator of some kind. He'll need to be able to protect himself...and you. Even if he is no longer human Voldemort will not stop coming after him and this will undoubtedly reveal you as a spy, should you be successful."

Severus had been about to open his mouth to protest needing to be protected when he registered the rest of what Albus had said. He honestly hadn't even thought about the fact that one way or another, these next couple weeks would be his last spying. Either he would make it out alive and seen as a traitor to the Dark or he would fail and die trying.

He jerked back to the present conversation as Albus spoke up again, "I believe there are some wolves in the forest currently, perhaps one of them. Of course if you come across something better than that then go with your instincts."

"You understand that he will hate us for this, don't you?"

Dumbledore took a deep shuddering breath before firming his resolve, "If that is what it takes to get him back then so be it."

With that Severus stood, nodded to the Headmaster and strode out the door, heading for the Forbidden Forest. 

Time to go wolf hunting.


	3. Chapter 3

**THE CHANGE**

Severus hurried down the corridor of the Dark Lord's manor, robes swishing and billowing behind him, yet his face remained flat and unreadable for any Death Eater he may happen to come across. Coming to a halt just outside a thick wooden door, he took a deep, fortifying breath before knocking firmly on the the door with his left hand, right hand twitching as if wanting to reach for the wand tucked up his sleeve.

"Enter!"

The door swung open and Severus stepped into the large, lavishly furnished office.

The Dark Lord turned from the window he had been looking out to stare at Severus with a greedy, anticipatory look in his crimson eyes. "Sssseverusss," he smiled grotesquely, too small teeth set in blackened gums showing from the ear to ear grin; like tiny yellow tombstones in freshly tilled soil, standing out harshly against the pale, grey scaled, nose-less, reptilian face, "The potion is done?"

Severus bowed deeply, "Yes My Lord. It needs ten more minutes to cool and then it must be administered within the next twelve hours to be properly effective."

"Exxxcccellent. We shall perform the final ritual in four hoursss time in the main hall. Bring the potion with you then," he turned to face back to the window, wide smile never leaving his face, "Oh, and Sssseveusss?"

"Yes My Lord?"

"Do not be late."

"Of course, My Lord," when the Dark Lord airily waved one hand over his shoulder at Severus he took it as the dismissal it was and quickly backed out of the room and didn't straighten from his bow until the door slammed shut on its own between them.

Walking swiftly back to the lab he had practically lived in for the last three weeks, he carefully fingered the potion bottle in his left pocket, hoping and praying to anyone that would listen that he would be able to get it into the boy and alter the ritual before it was too late. He had been hoping to be able to slip the boy the _Animalis Mutatio_ potion earlier and trigger it with a time delay spell for the time of the ritual but the Dark Lord had not seen fit to allow him any access to the boy. He had not even seen him yet. There was a part of him that almost dreaded seeing him...seven months in the Dark Lord's care was not particularly something he wanted to see the end result of.

Moving back into the potions lab he glanced at the small hourglass beside the resting cauldron, seeing he still had about three minutes before he could decant the potion into a vial. He mentally ran through the steps of what he had to do now. He first had to get the _Animalis Mutatio_ into the boy, thankfully it would take a minute or two to begin showing external signs that it was working; first it changed the persons magic, then their heart and lungs, then the rest of the organs, the external body would follow soon after, and the mind and thought processes would change last. That would, hopefully, give him the chance to burn three more runes into the boy's body to add to what no doubt covered his skin at the moment. One for cooperation, one for companionship, and one for equal exchange. Those three would...not _change_ exactly...but alter the tone of the binding. Instead of being a purely one way street of slave obeying master and all control of magic, body, and free will being determined by the binder, this allowed a bit of leeway. While the urge to obey would be there, the bound would ultimately have a choice. Beyond the most basic of desires to make the binder happy, free will was also not overly affected. And the most important part, the magic, would still be accessible to the binder but the ability to use more than a shred of it required the bound to willingly open access to their core and offer the power freely. It still bound the boy into a type of slavery but at least it was slightly better than the kind the Dark Lord wanted to inflict. 

Severus wished that it didn't have to be him to do the binding. Once it was put in place there was no going back, no breaking the bond, no escape. As he had had to brew the potion here, and the binder's blood had to be freshly spilled into the cauldron, he had been the only choice. The Dark Lord had spilled his blood into a cauldron and watched Severus begin the base of the potion before leaving him to himself, at which point he had disposed of the potion and begun again with his own blood. 

He watched as the last few grains of sand slipped from the top of the hourglass and moved to decant the mercury coloured potion into the large vial he had sitting next to the cauldron in preparation. Putting the stopper in the vial he sat heavily on the stool behind the work surface and simply stared at it. That this tiny glass bottle would have such earth shattering consequences was enough to render him numb. He questioned if he was really making the right decision. Truly, if he was Potter and knew what his two options were, slavery to the Dark Lord or a bond to a man he hated and a life no longer human, he would likely choose to off himself as soon as possible. If it were anyone else Severus would likely have shown them mercy and put them out of their misery before this travesty could occur. Unfortunately for him, and Potter especially, the boy didn't get that option. Because some half drunk, crackpot of a seer spoke a few words before he was even born, Potter would never get the option of bowing gracefully out of the war. He could not be allowed to die as it would spell sure destruction of everything the wizarding world held dear as Voldemort had a clear path to victory.

Closing his eyes briefly and reigning in his emotions behind his occlumancy barriers, Severus stood, picked up the potion and placed it in his pocket with the _Animalis Mutatio_ potion and moved toward the small cot in the corner of the room. Crouching down and reaching into the shadows underneath the camp bed he withdrew a small black box. It was only about ten inches across in both directions and maybe two inches thick and seemed so innocuous for what it really was; the final nail in the boys coffin wherein lay a normal life. Removing the lid of the box he did his best not to look at the contents as he grabbed it and quickly put it in his right pocket and replaced the box under the bed before sitting on the cot and waiting in silence for quite possibly the worst moment of his life to begin.

* * *

Walking into the main hall, Severus took his spot in the slowly gathering ranks of the Dark Lord's followers. Looking around there only appeared to be a couple people that seemed to know what was happening. Lucius was one, Bellatrix another. Rodolphus and Rabastan as well as Avery and Crouch seemed to be aware as well as they all looked either anticipatory, or downright giddy in the case of Bellatrix and Crouch, about what was soon to happen. It would seem that the Dark Lord had called all of his followers to witness the crippling and degradation of his enemy but hadn't actually informed any of them about what was to occur.

Silence swept through the room, abruptly cutting off the soft whispering of the various Death Eaters that were either too impatient or just too stupid to not keep quiet as the Dark Lord glided into the room and lowered himself into the throne at the front of the room. Everyone immediately dropped into a deep bow which was held for several long seconds before the serpentine man told them to rise. 

"Luccciusss, Rabasssstan," the evil wizard's high breathy voice rang out, "Fetch our honoured guessst." Both men swept into another bow but only held it for a moment before striding out of the room quickly. 

Severus could feel the churning in his gut increase tenfold with every minute they were gone. Nobody had ever been held captive this long by the Dark Lord before, mainly because they never survived this long. Three months was the longest anyone had ever clung to life when interred by the Dark Lord. Even then, their mind was long gone by the middle of the fifth week. He almost hoped Potter had lost his marbles at some point; it would have given him some sort of pseudo reprieve from the torture at least.

He was pulled from his anxious thoughts as the doors opened again, readmitting Malfoy and Lestrange. Severus' mind ground to a halt, bile rising in his throat and he fought to keep his expression neutral even as he could feel his stomach climb into his throat and his body broke out in goosebumps, every hair standing on end.

Malfoy and Lestrange each held one arm of the mangled lump of flesh and blood they dragged, face down between them. They moved towards the dais as the Death Eaters moved out of the way and cleared a path for them. Stopping just in front of the steps they unceremoniously dropped their burden with a sickening thud to the stone floor in front of the monster sitting above and bowed deeply before moving back to their respective places, a small smirk playing on the corner of Lucius' mouth, causing a fury like he had never felt before to sweep through Severus and steal his breath.

The Dark Lord stood and raised his arms out to the side as if inviting them for a hug, "My friendssss, today is a great day. Today I shall take what has been an irritating pebble in my shoe and make it into a great strength. Thisss," he gestured grandly at the unmoving mass below him, "is the Light'sss greatest hope!" The high cackle that followed sent a shiver down more than one spine present. "Today I shall show the Light that their resissstance is futile. They would not dare stand against me when their hero _crawlsss_ in the dirt at my feet!" He lowered his arms and looked towards Severus, "Sssseverusss, you have served me well, I give you the honour of performing the ritual that will bring us the victory we dessserve."

Severus forced him self into motion, dropping into another bow, "You honour me, My Lord."

"I do," he motioned for Severus to go towards the pile of human meat on the floor. "You may begin."

Severus swallowed heavily as he stepped towards what was left of Potter. He moved around to stand between the boy and the Dark Lord, ostensibly to be easier able to administer the potion, but really to hopefully hide what he was doing for as long as possible. Severus pushed aside thoughts of how unlikely this was to succeed and how incredibly likely it was that he would not make it out of the room alive and instead crouched down with his back to the Dark Lord. His skin crawled at having the powerful wizard behind him and out of sight but he managed to keep his motions smooth and fluid.

Bent over the boy so close made it even more obvious that, while technically alive, he was barely hanging on. Thin reedy, rasping breaths moved through Potters chest so faintly that his chest barely twitched and a gurgling wet sound followed in inhale. There were more wounds than open skin, every inch of him coated in blood. Deep black runes, placed in various places all over his body was the only change in colour on the naked, bloody teen. He looked to have broken collarbones, arms, legs, and ribs; pieces of bone actually piercing through skin on his left shin and ribs. His usually wild, short black hair was grown past his shoulders and matted down with blood, giving it a deep red colour. A long angry looking scar ran from the top right hand side of his forehead, bisecting the famous lightning bolt scar, and dragging down through his eyebrow, across his eye and stopping just past the corner of his mouth.

The Dark Lord had begun questioning his various Ministry employed followers for updates and, taking the opportunity of distraction, Severus drew his wand, keeping most of it still hidden in his sleeve to avoid attention, and placed the tip against the upper left arm of the boy where there was only one rune that was closer to his elbow. Severus drew the image of the three runes he needed to the forefront of his mind and whispered _Ut Notam_ as he drew a line from the broken edge of Potter's collarbone, over his shoulder, and down his bicep. One after another, the three runes appeared following the path of his wand and turned black, matching the others. Slipping his wand away, Severus chanced a glance up to be sure he wasn't being paid attention at the moment. Seeing Nott writhing on the floor at the end of the Dark Lord's wand let him return his focus to what he was doing. He quickly reached into his pocket and withdrew the deep blue of the _Animalis Mutatio_ potion. Prying the boys jaw open he saw several cracked and missing teeth but endeavoured to think about the injuries later. Pouring the potion down his throat and, muttering a wandless charm as he stroked his hand down the boy's throat, had him swallowing the potion and Severus saw the exact moment it went into effect. Potter went from laying limp and unresponsive to stiffening slightly as a small current of energy seemed to crackle across the surface of his skin.

Pulling out the second potion he quickly forced the boy to swallow it as well. 

Severus swallowed dryly. This was the last part. If he stopped now Potter would die when the runes had no magic to anchor them and they ripped it from their host's core. If he didn't stop, Potter would no longer be Potter.

He didn't stop.

He raised his wand again and quickly began chanting the binding ritual words, feeling the power building up slowly between the two of them, the air getting thicker and harder to breath by the second.

He finished the last word just as the sound of bones cracking echoed into the room, the reverberating noise causing the Dark Lord to look over at him. Severus looked over his shoulder and met the monster's eyes for just a second before he turned back and in one motion, swiftly withdrew a silver collar from his right hand pocket which he slid over the now angular and fur covered head in front of him. As soon as the collar was at the animal's neck it shrunk down to a snug fit and Severus felt the magic of the familiar bond snap into place.

The absolute roar of fury from the Dark Lord jolted Severus from his disorientation of suddenly having another presence in his mind and he lunged towards the massive jet black panther laying in front of him. As soon as his hand touched the beast's flank he yanked the thin brown cord around his neck, breaking the rope and triggering the portkey that would take him and only him back to Hogwarts. Of course, a familiar bond made any form of magic recognize the familiar as one with the owner and would accept them as two parts of a whole. Which was why he had needed to complete the bond before being able to get them out of there. He felt the hook behind his navel as the portkey activated and just as the enraged Dark Lord and his Death Eaters began to spin away Severus felt a burning pain flare out from his side. 

Severus and the huge cat slammed into the rug covered stone floor of the Headmaster's office with a crashing sound as several small tables were knocked away. Severus dimly heard Dumbledore exclaim his name in shock before the searing pain in his side finally overwhelmed him and he slipped into the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**WAKING**

Hermione sat across the table in the great hall from Ron, trying to ignore the visual and audible catastrophe that was the youngest Weasley boy eating breakfast. Gently taking a bite of her buttered toast she looked up as the loud rustling and flapping of several owls swooping into the Great Hall reached her ears, drowning out the chewing and clinking cutlery sounds of the few remaining students that had stayed for the Christmas hols. 

Placing her toast gently back on her plate she rummaged in the small purple beaded bag at her hip. A large brown and tawny barn owl swooped down to land in front of her, dropping the morning copy of the Daily Prophet newspaper and sticking its leg out to show the small leather pouch tied above its foot. Dropping two bronze knuts into the pouch and giving the bird a piece of bacon, she reached for the paper as the owl took flight.

Hermione's face grew graver and graver as she read further and the slowly quieting room showed that she was not the only one deeply worried about what the day's news had reported.

"What's up, 'Mione?" Ron asked through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. 

She glanced up as he swallowed the food and passed the paper across the table.

Hermione looked away from his rapidly paling face as he skimmed the paper to look out at the rest of the Hall. Students were whispering to each other, looking serious, passing newspapers up and down the long tables to those who did not receive a subscription of their own, trying to keep the front pages hidden from the youngest of the students who were trying to see why the older students and teachers looked so concerned.

The paper had reported that in one night there had been more than fifteen raids by what had to be Voldemort. Both muggle and wizarding homes and businesses had been attacked, leaving many dead and several missing. The Dark Mark glowing starkly above each location in clear indication of the perpetrators.

It had come out at the beginning of her fourth year that Voldemort had returned when, after Pettigrew had escaped during the fiasco with Sirius and Remus, the rat had made his way back to his master's side and helped him regain a body. Evidence of his presence periodically made the paper whenever a raid or attack happened and when Harry had been kidnapped at the end of last year the entire wizarding world had gone into a mass panic. 

While the raids and attacks had certainly been increasing in frequency as time went on, nothing to this degree had happened yet. Either Voldemort was very happy and confident or he was very, _very_ angry. She wasn't quite sure which option was worse.

Ron's muttered, "Bloody hell," brought Hermione back to the present and she frowned at him in disapproval, though refrained from making a comment about his language. If there was ever a time to warrant swearing, it was when more than a hundred and fifty had been confirmed dead in one night.

The redhead placed the paper down and pushed his plate away, apparently having lost his indomitable appetite with the news and looked up at her. His freckles stood out starkly on his white face and his lips were pulled into a frown that mirrored the furrow between his brows. "What do you think it means?" he asked in a hushed voice. "Do you think it has anything to do with Harry?"

Hermione frowned a bit and ran her hand through her bushy brown hair, pushing it out of her eyes. "I don't know. Dumbledore's not at the table though," she nodded her head in the direction of the staff table. Though the only staff that had stayed for the break were McGonagall, Flitwick, Trewlawney, Hagrid, and of course Filch and Pomfrey, they didn't always eat in the Great Hall. The Headmaster, though, was always there for every meal.

Ron frowned as he looked at the Head table. "Did you ever find out why Snape wanted to know that information about Harry?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. When the Headmaster called us up to his office to ask about it was the last I heard about it." She hummed, "Maybe we could go visit the Headmaster today and see if whatever they were planning worked? If they did do something that might explain why You-Know-Who made all of those attacks."

Ron nodded with a determined expression, "I just hope Harry's okay."

* * *

Severus woke with a groan and tried to open his eyes only to shut them again immediately as light seared into his retinas. Slowly trying again he squinted against the bright light as his eyes adjusted. Seeing the beams of the hospital wing ceiling slowly come into focus he had to fight down a slightly hysterical laugh. He couldn't believe he had actually made it out of there alive. He was sure either he or Potter or, more likely, both of them would die before making back to safety. His eyes widened abruptly. _Potter!_ He sat up quickly, immediately hunching over and pressing his hand to his left side where a searing pain radiated at the the sudden movement. Breathing deeply he slowly opened his eyes again from where they had scrunched in pain. He was looking at a scratchy white hospital blanket that did little to hide the knobbly shape of his knees and legs beneath.

Slowly he pulled the blanket aside and swung his bare legs over the edge of the bed, resting his feet on the cold floor. Seeing he was only in a pale blue hospital gown he looked around quickly and spotted a white terrycloth bathrobe thrown over the back of a nearby chair. Finding no better option Severus staggered over and grabbed it. Swinging it around his shoulders he gingerly straightened with a hiss and let his hand drop from his side to pull the robe closed and tie the waist band in place.

Glancing around the room he could see no sign of Potter anywhere. The other beds were all made up and tucked neatly, showing no sign of recent use. Limping slightly, he shuffled over to Poppy's office and tapped against the wood, slumping against the door frame.

"Severus!" Poppy's loud exclamation caused his eyes to pop open from where he hadn't realized they had closed in the first place. "What are you doing out of bed?" She tried to bodily move him back to the bed but was unable to do more than push ineffectually at his arms with her much smaller stature.

"Where is Potter? Did he survive?" Severus asked with dread slowly creeping into his thoughts.

"Potter?" Pomfrey asked looking surprised. Her brow furrowed, "I've not seen him since he was taken last year. Are you saying you've seen him?"

Severus saw that he would get no useful information from the mediwitch and abruptly turned on his heel and made his way as swiftly as he could, which was still much slower than his normal walking speed, towards the double doors that led to the rest of the school.

"Severus! Severus stop! Severus Snape!" he ignored her as he continued towards the doors and managed to get the right side door open a crack before the small woman slammed into the door and held it closed while she glared at him. "Severus Snape you will stop this and get back in that bed or so help me Merlin I will tie you to it!"

He paused and turned his head to meet her eyes dead on. Normally he and the formidable little witch got on like a house on fire but right now his first and only priority was finding the boy- no, not a boy any more, but his new...bondmate. That's if Potter survived the combination of his wounds, the transformation, the binding, and then the less than gentle portkey travel.

"Madame, if you were anyone else I would have struck you down where you stand, with or without a wand," he started in a low menacing near whisper. "I am leaving this room and I am going to find the Headmaster. You can either assist me by transfiguring these robes into something appropriate for students to see me in or I can leave as I am. At this point I really don't care. Either way, you will move out of my way and let. Me. _Leave._ " He had drawn himself up to his full height, nearly a foot and a half taller than the mediwitch and was staring down his nose at her with a cold glare. He couldn't bring himself to feel even the slightest bit sorry at the shocked, slightly fearful look she returned at him. "Move."

She opened and closed her mouth several times but couldn't seem to find any words and instead snapped her jaw shut and with a sniff raised her wand, transfiguring the hospital gown and robe into something similar to the robes he would normally wear. Stepping back from the door finally she waved her wand once again and conjured a plain pair of shoes on his feet. Whipping around, she stalked back towards her office without a word.

Severus yanked open the door and stepped into the hallway. He would have to apologize and make it up to her for the way he had just treated her but at the moment he had bigger things to worry about. He moved as quickly as he was able towards the Headmasters office and realized he must not have been unconscious for too long as it didn't appear that the majority of the student body was back from their Christmas holidays yet.

Stopping in front of the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office he glared at the ugly thing, "Inform the Headmaster that Severus Snape would like to speak to him." He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited and cursed Albus under his breath for not having an override password for the professors to use.

He moved forward immediately once the gargoyle had hopped to the side revealing the rotating staircase. Once at the top he raised his fist to knock but the door swung open on its own before Severus' knuckles could touch the wood.

"Come in, Severus."

He stepped through and saw the old man sitting behind his desk looking more tired than he had ever seen him though his eyes had regained a hint of their former ever present twinkle. "Where is he Albus?" Severus asked before the Headmaster could say anything else.

"You're up and about much sooner than I anticipated. Poppy said you'd likely sleep for another day or two at least."

" _Albus!_ " he hissed, glaring at the man. "I don't have time for your pleasantries. Did he survive?"

Dumbledore's face took on a more serious cast. "Yes. He survived." He paused. "He doesn't appear to recognize anyone however. We had to restrain him after he almost mauled a house elf upon waking up."

Severus just nodded, "I know. The bond is still not fully complete. We didn't have time for the reciprocal bite before we had to leave. Once that is done, he should slowly regain his memories over the next hour or two. So I will ask again. Where. Is. He?"

"He's up in my quarters. We couldn't move him through the halls without the students seeing and with him fighting it was more risk than we thought prudent. Follow me," he stood, beckoning Severus with one hand as he moved out from behind the desk and over to the small staircase at the right side of the office. Severus followed him up the stairs and through a door, stepping into what was likely a sitting room though the chairs and couches were currently pushed up against the walls to make room for the large steel cage that now dominated the centre of the area.

Severus got his first good look at the beast that Potter now was as the agitated panther paced back and forth in the limited space of the cage, letting out the occasional snarl at nothing in particular. The second they stepped into sight, however, the large cat snapped its head around to stare at them with narrow, green slit eyes. The cats upper lip lifted as a low rumbling growl filled the room and Severus shivered at the thought that he was about to willingly let this wild animal bite him. He could only hope he would keep all limbs intact through the process.

"Stay back," was all he said as he moved past the Headmaster towards the cage. Once he was nearly touching the bars with his chest he slowly raised his right arm and, pulling back the sleeve of his robe, pushed it through the bars in front of the cat. The animal paused, head tilted slightly to the side, likely being influenced by the nearly complete bond. The growling had died down to a low, nearly inaudible rumble as the cat moved slowly towards him. Severus tried his hardest to keep from yanking his arm back in self-preservation but couldn't prevent his hands from trembling slightly. The panther made eye contact with him for a moment and Severus could feel the other presence in his mind strengthen as he was acknowledged. Moving slowly the cat turned his head and gently gripped Severus' forearm between the large, sharp teeth. Making eye contact once again, the cat slowly bit down. Thankfully, the magic of an imminent familiar bond seemed to stay the creature as the teeth only sunk into his flesh about half an inch before the jaws opened again, releasing him.

Breathing out shakily, Severus pulled his arm back through the bars, examining the bite marks that had instantly healed over, leaving shiny silver scars in their wake.

The presence in Severus' mind that he knew to be Potter was fluctuating softly and he could feel both of their magic weaving together. He swayed on his feet as a particularly strong flood of magic washed over him. He stumbled over to one of the couches closest to the cage and slumped into the cushion, pressing his hand into his side again.

"I'll have to stay here for the next little bit Albus, I can't leave while the bond is cementing. It should take about an hour. Maybe less," he informed the Headmaster tiredly.

Dumbledore nodded, "Very well. Feel free to call an elf for refreshments if you'd like. I've some correspondence to deal with from the ministry but I'll be up again shortly to fill you in on what's happened and you can tell me whatever information you may have then."

Severus just nodded tiredly, eyes already slipping shut as the exhaustion he had been fighting since the moment he woke up took over. He heard the door softly close as Dumbledore left and the last thing he saw was the panther settling down with its massive head resting on its front paws, green eyes watching him back, as his body finally succumbed to sleep.

* * *

Albus sighed as he placed another scroll of parchment in the out pile on his desk to be sent to their respective recipients in the morning. Placing his quill back in the ink pot, he straightened his back, relishing in the small popping noises of his vertebrae as he moved from his hunched over position. Seeing that it had been almost three hours since he had left Severus and Harry alone upstairs he called a house elf to bring a tea tray. Once the small creature had placed the tray on his desk and popped away again he stood, levitating the tray in front of himself and headed up the stairs.

He knocked softly on the door but when there was no response he opened it and stepped through. The panther was laying down in the cage and turned its large head towards him, green eyes looking on intelligently. He glanced over to the couch and saw Severus fast asleep in the corner. A small smile twitched at the corners of his mouth when he considered how Severus would react if he told him that he looked like an adorable child when he slept. His long dark hair going in every direction, drool gathering at the corner of his mouth. Nose scrunched up slightly with the slightest pout on his lips. He couldn't contain the small soft chuckle that escaped him. Turning back to the panther he was relieved to see that it was calmly watching him and making no move to get up. When the cat had first awoken it had reacted like a wild animal, hissing and growling and swiping. 

"Harry? Do you know who I am?" he asked. From how Severus had explained it previously, while the thought processes and instincts of the chosen animal would be primary, he should retain all of the memories and intelligence from his human form. 

The cat looked at him for several moments before slowly dipping its head once. Albus sighed in relief. At least this much had gone according to plan, seeing as it seemed that nothing else had.

He quickly summoned one of the nearby chairs and a small end table, placing the tea tray down and settling into the squashy purple chair, facing the cat.

"Do you mind if we have a chat? Well, I suppose I'll be doing most of the chatting, but you're welcome to join in where you can, my boy." He smiled gently at the cat as it shifted to face him slightly, though still seemed to keep Severus in sight from the corner of his eye at all times.

"Do you remember being kidnapped?" he asked. The cat again took a moment to respond before slowly dipping its head in affirmation. "And do you remember being held by Voldemort and his followers?" The pause was longer this time before the nod. Albus smiled encouragingly at the panther, though it seemed to have an opposite effect than he hoped as the cat's ears pulled back and his eyes narrowed briefly before coming forward again. Deciding to continue on he asked, "Do you remember how you came to be like this?" There was less pause now before the large head moved to the side in a negative.

"He was unconscious during the ritual," Severus' sleep rough voice sounded from the couch. Albus looked over to see his potion master sitting up and trying to smooth down his hair and robes.

"Ah, Severus, I didn't mean to wake you," he said, scanning his eyes across the younger man. The sleep, short though it was, seemed to have done him a world of good as the bags under his eyes were less pronounced and there was a bit more colour to his sallow face.

The man waved his hand in dismissal, "It's fine, Albus."

The large cat had risen while they were talking and was now stood facing Severus through the bars, his right side turned towards Albus. "I've been having a wonderful conversation with Harry here but you would be able to tell better whether or not he is ready to come out." Albus said as more of a question. He watched as Severus met gazes with the cat for a moment before turning to face him.

"He's fine. Just keep in mind that he's not human anymore, Albus," Severus met his eyes squarely. "He may have all of his memories but they are being filtered through the mindset of a wild animal. The human emotions aren't there anymore."

Albus sobered, "Of course my boy. It is difficult to remember that when he is able to understand and respond to my words however. I will endeavour to keep it in mind." He turned back to the cage, seeing the panther now looking at him, though still standing closer to where Severus sat, and raised his wand.

A low rumble sounded from the cat at the sight of the wand and Albus saw Severus get to his feet and move directly in front of Harry, drawing his attention. He could tell that the younger man was saying something to the cat but it was too low for him to make any words out. The rumble quietened and Severus nodded for him to continue. Raising his wand again from where it had fallen to his side he focused on a portion of the bars and promptly vanished them, leaving an opening just wide enough for the panther's large shoulders to pass through. Severus took a step back to give the cat room to step out. 

Albus watched as Harry moved carefully out of the cage; each placement of his paws deliberate and silent. Once he was standing next to Severus, his back coming up to the bottom of the professor's ribs, Albus cleared his throat gaining both of the others' attention. "Well my boys, how say you we pop down to the office where there is more room for a spot of lunch?"

Severus glanced down at his companion before nodding swiftly. "We both could do with some food I believe. Him especially," he said gesturing to the cat.

"Excellent! I'll meet you down there, I'll just have to excuse myself for a quick moment to freshen up," Albus clapped his hands together and turned to exit the room in the opposite direction of where the other two were heading. He paused just before going through the door and turned, "Oh! And Harry my boy?" He waited for the moment it took for the cat to turn and acknowledge him. "Welcome home." With that he bustled off to the loo, allowing the other two to go down to the office.

* * *

The soft clinking of Albus' spoon against his teacup rang out, mixing with the puffs and whirrs of the various devices around the room. They had just finished a lunch of soup and sandwiches for himself and Severus and a large hunk of raw meat had been brought for Harry, over which they had had a rather sombre discussion about everything that had happened on both sides during the last month that Severus had been gone. He had also returned Severus' wand to him that had fallen to the office floor when they porkeyed in and rolled under the desk only to be found by a house elf this morning.

Taking a sip and relaxing back into his chair he looked across at the two in front of him. Severus was also nursing a cup, though his was filled with coffee, and the enormous cat was laying on the floor just to the right of Severus' chair, licking its teeth and lips free of any residue from the meat it had eaten.

"If I may ask, Severus," he began, "Why do you not refer to Harry by name? I don't think I've heard you call him Harry or even Potter since you both returned."

Severus frowned into his coffee for a moment before looking up, "Because he is not Harry Potter anymore."

"Well of course he is different now, my boy, but he is still the same person whether he is human or not." Albus frowned at the young man in front of him, "I know that you have had issues with non-human wizards and witches before and I am fully aware of how antagonistic your relationship with young Harry is but that does not give you the right to treat him as a lesser being than yourself or anyone else. You would do well to put your prejudices aside."

Severus straightened in his seat and slowly placed his cup to the side. With his spine perfectly straight, fingers laced together, and a completely cold, emotionless expression, Albus suddenly saw the other side of his long time friend that generally was reserved for when he dealt with Voldemort. He felt a chill run down his spine and wondered if perhaps his well meaning, but possibly too strongly worded, reprimand had been going too far. Severus had never once reacted like this to him and he could see the great black cat getting ready to lift to its feet, green eyes glaring with ears back and tail twitching.

Severus finally spoke and it was with a completely flat tone, as if speaking about nothing more interesting than if he wanted one roll with dinner or two, "My 'issues' as you call them have absolutely nothing to due with the fact that they are non-human. I have several acquaintances among the centaurs, goblins, and vampires. My issues with werewolves come from the fact that I have yet to meet one that hasn't tried to kill me, or worse, turn me at some point. Call it whatever you want, but don't you dare accuse me of being racist or purist or anything else along those lines. As for him," he continued, gesturing at the cat that was now in a low crouch, looking ready to lunge at Albus without a second's hesitation, "When I say I don't call him by the name Harry Potter it has nothing at all to do with any animosity I may have felt towards James Potter or his spawn. I have long since been able to separate father from son and despised the boy for his own merits. That said, any resentment I may have felt towards him died the moment I saw him on the day of the ritual. He survived eight months with the Dark Lord. It was not pretty. Anyone who can survive that kind of brutality has my utmost respect and admiration.

"You accuse me of treating him improperly when it is you that is doing so. I have said it to you multiple times now but you seem determined to see him as nothing more than a wizard in another body. You cannot compare him to creatures like werewolves or vampires or veela because all of those are a predominantly human being. He. Is. Not. Human. He is not just in an animal's body with the mind of Harry Potter. He is a fully grown, wild panther that just happens to have access to the memories of a fifteen year old boy but no human emotions to go with them. I do not call him Harry or Potter or any combination thereof because he does not recognize it as his name anymore. He understands that before he was as he is he was human and called Harry but that is the extent of his connection to that name. He is not Harry Potter anymore, and no amount of berating me for things I cannot control, and might I remind you, that you asked for, will change that. I do not call him Harry Potter anymore because to do so would be to disrespect the person he was and deliberately misunderstand the creature he is now." Severus stood abruptly and turned on his heel to exit the office. The large cat following behind his silently, throwing suspicious glances at Albus as he went. As Severus reached the door and reached out to turn the handle when he spoke again, "Have a good day, Headmaster. I will send notice when we have agreed upon an appropriate name for him to answer to." With that, he yanked open the door and exited quickly, the panther hot on his heels until Albus was left alone in his office, the door slowly swinging shut.

* * *

Severus moved down the corridors of the castle, grateful that there were no students currently wandering in that area. While the short sleep in Albus' quarters had seemed to have done him a world of good, he could tell he was still not one hundred percent yet. The ache in his side where the curse had hit him, though it had dulled considerably, was still radiating outwards, making his chest feel tight when he took deep breaths and made his hip throb with each step.

He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the panther was still following him and found the cat walking just to his right and about two steps behind him, completely silent. He faced forward again and turned down the hall that led to the dungeons.

After many twists and turns through near identical looking stone halls, he stopped at an alcove that was entirely indistinguishable from any of the others they had passed so far. Looking at the panther who had sat down behind him when he stopped he beckoned him forward with one hand. The large cat rose and padded towards him. 

"I'm going to add you to the wards," he said softly. "You'll be able to come and go as you please this way." He felt the thrum of acknowledgement through the bond in his mind and reached out to rest his hand on the soft head and placed his other hand on the wall in front of him. He muttered the necessary charms and then stepped back, pulling his hands back to his sides. "You should be able to just press your head against the wall now."

The panther looked at him for a moment before moving forwards and gently pressing its forehead against the wall. The wall seemed to shimmer like a heat wave for a second before it melted away into an open doorway. Motioning for the feline to preceed him into the private quarters, he followed the graceful black form into his living room. 

Moving across the room to the door on the far wall, he moved into his bedroom and kicked off the transfigured shoes and pulling the robes off leaving him bare. He moved over to his wardrobe to grab fresh clothing and when he turned to go towards the bathroom to take a much needed shower he saw that the massive cat had followed him into the room and now sat just inside the door watching him. He stopped abruptly and shifted the clothes in his arms to cover his groin, an embarrassed flush rising in his cheeks. All he could feel from the bond was a general curiosity and confusion and when he probed at it he got impressions of curiosity of what he was doing and confusion at Severus' embarrassment. He snorted at himself. Of course the cat didn't care that he was naked, nudity was a purely human concept.

Huffing a breath he actively ignored the cat and continued on to the bathroom. He went to close the door behind him and saw that the panther had followed him again and looked like it was about to step through into the room with him. He glared at the beast, "Go entertain yourself elsewhere." With that he closed the door in the cat's face and locked it for good measure.


	5. Chapter 5

**HARD DISCUSSIONS**

Hermione waited impatiently by the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, tapping her foot in agitation as she waited for Ron to come downstairs.

"Finally!" she muttered as Ron came bounding down the stairs from the boy's dorm, clutching a piece of somewhat tattered parchment in one hand.

He stumbled to a stop in front of her, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin, "Sorry 'Mione, I thought this might come in handy to find him." He waved the piece of folded parchment in the air halfheartedly and Hermione lost most of the scowl that had crept across her expression when she realized he was holding the Marauder's Map.

She nodded in agreement, "Good thinking, now let's go." She spun around and pushed open the door, climbing through the portrait hole with Ron close on her heels.

They moved over to the staircase leading down from the seventh floor, looking around somewhat surreptitiously even though it was full daylight out still and they were perfectly allowed to be moving about the castle at this time. Moving away from the landing on the sixth floor, Ron dragged her over to an alcove and ducked behind a hanging tapestry. Hermione watched intently as Ron unfolded the faded paper and tapped it with his wand, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Black inky lines spread outwards from the tip of his wand, spiralling and twisting into the shapes of the Hogwarts corridors, small footprints with name banners sporadically located here and there as the map showed the thirty or so people that were still at the school during Christmas.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, gripping his arm tightly. "Look! Professor Snape is back!" She pointed at the small banner showing Severus Snape down in the dungeons. "That's weird," she muttered a moment later. "I wonder who he's with? The map has never not known a name before." 

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, eyes scanning the map, obviously trying to find what she was looking at.

"Look. There," she pointed to Snape's footprints that were unmoving, in what she assumed was probably his private quarters, and beside that was another set of prints, also unmoving. Above the prints, where the person's name would normally be, the banner was empty.

Ron frowned, "I don't know. But Dumbledore's in his office. We should head there before he moves."

" _Headmaster_ Dumbledore, Ron," she muttered but followed him anyway as he ducked out from behind the tapestry and started moving down the hall.

Ron tapped the map again as he walked, muttering, "Mischief managed," under his breath, before refolding it and tucking it into his pocket.

* * *

Ron raised his fist and knocked on the wooden door in front of them. He and Hermione had just spent five minutes standing in the hallway in front of the large stone gargoyle listing every sweet they could think of, both muggle and wizard.

"Come in," was heard through the door and Ron reached out and turned the handle, stepping through the door into the large red and gold, circular office, feeling Hermione step up behind him and let the door swing shut.

Dumbledore placed his quill down as he looked up at them and smiled genially, "Ah! Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger! What a lovely surprise. What can I do for the two of you today?"

Hermione stepped up, "We're terribly sorry to bother you Headmaster."

"Not at all, my dear, not at all. You do an old man a favour by allowing me to focus on something other than the rather dry and boring letters that the Ministry persists on sending me despite my best attempts to get them to send them elsewhere." He gestured towards the chairs in front of his desk before clasping his hands together and resting them on the desk, "Now, why don't you have a seat and we can have some tea and we can see about getting to the bottom of whatever it is I can help you with."

"Hermione cheeks flushed a bit, "Of course, Headmaster." She grabbed Ron by the arm and dragged him towards the squashy armchairs.

"Oi! I can walk just as well on my own!" he exclaimed, rubbing his tender arm as she released him and he sat, sinking into the chair.

Hermione shot him a glare but didn't retort as Dumbledore's voice cut through the impending spat, "Tea anyone?"

"Yes, please, sir," Hermione said, perched on the edge of her chair to avoid the inevitable slouching that came with sitting in such a cushy chair. Ron just nodded his head, reaching for the cup when Dumbledore slid it across the desk in front of him. 

He struggled to straighten in the chair, and begrudgingly admitted, if only to himself, that Hermione might have had the better idea when sitting down when he found himself flailing slightly before managing to sit upright enough to fix his tea with so much cream and sugar he could smell it. He ignored the wrinkled nose look of disgust Hermione shot towards his cup as she only added a dash of lemon to her tea and nothing else. Crazy woman.

Several moments went by with only the occasional clink of cups being placed against saucers and the periodical slurping noises coming from his own direction. Finally Dumbledore broke the silence as he placed his cup and saucer on the desk and looking at the two of them over his half-moon glasses, "Well, as pleased as I am to share a spot of tea with two of my favourite students, I do believe you came here for a reason. Am I wrong?"

Hermione went to place her tea down to answer but Ron beat her to it. "What's happening with Harry? Why did you ask us those questions before? Did you do something? Is that why You-Know-Who went crazy - well, crazier than normal - last night? Why is Snape back? Does it have anything to do with Harry?"

Dumbledore, who at first looked mildly surprised at the barrage of questions, was now raising his right hand, palm out to stop him.

"Ronald!" Hermione hissed.

Dumbledore chuckled, "No, no, my dear. It's quite alright. Mr. Weasley, and yourself I'm sure, are just concerned for Mr. Potter's sake. I know that things have been difficult for the two of you since last May when he was abducted and we have been unable to assuage any of your worries." The mood had taken a considerable dive and both Hermione and Ron were staring intently at the Headmaster now, hanging on every word as they hoped to get even a shred of information about Harry.

Hermione's voice trembled a bit as she asked, "He's...he's not...dead? Is he sir? Harry's still alive, right?"

Dumbledore sent a sad smile her way and Ron felt his gut clench in fear. "No, Ms. Granger, he's not dead." Ron breathed a sigh of relief. "However...Mr. Potter is not exactly alive either." Ron's stomach dropped. What in the bloody hell was that supposed to mean?

"What...what do you mean, Professor? Have you found him? Is he here?" Hermione sounded desperate and Ron couldn't agree more. He needed more information. It sounded like Dumbledore knew exactly how Harry was and he was dancing around the answers they so desperately sought.

Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his chair, stroking his beard and looking at them intently. "What I am about to tell you goes no further than this room, do you understand?" he asked gravely. Ron and Hermione nodded their heads vigorously. "Very well. You may not appreciate knowing once you do, but I feel you have the right to know." Dumbledore cleared his throat, took a sip of tea and began, "Your suppositions about the raids last night having something to do with Harry are correct. We were able to retrieve him and bring him home in the very early hours of yesterday morning."

"Harry's here?! Where is he? Why didn't anyone tell us?" Ron yelled as Hermione fired off her own questions.

"Is he in the infirmary? Is he hurt? How did you get him? Where was he?"

Dumbledore raised a hand for silence again and they slowly quieted. "I will answer all of the questions I can but let me tell you what I have to tell you before you go harassing Madame Pomfrey." He waited and seeing them both nod in acquiescence, though not happily, he continued on. "Voldemort was very much displeased to have lost Mr. Potter after he put many months into working on and building up his plan for him; hence the many raids as he vented his frustration for the world to see." Dumbledore paused again, this time for a rather long moment as he looked at them. "I know you hold no soft feelings towards Professor Snape but he is an exceptional and good man."

Ron couldn't contain his snort and Dumbledore frowned at him.

"Mr. Weasley, Voldemort would have won the war yesterday if it hadn't been for Severus Snape. At great personal risk to himself Professor Snape single-handedly destroyed the plan that Voldemort has been working towards for the past considerable while and saved Mr. Potter's life and magic. Regardless of your personal feelings towards him as a teacher he deserves your respect."

Ron felt his face go white at those words. He swallowed thickly and nodded faintly to show that he heard and understood Dumbledore's words. If that was true and Snape had risked his life to save Harry then he would have to reevaluate his opinion of the great, greasy dungeon bat. Of course, that still didn't mean he had to like him, but perhaps the man wasn't entirely evil despite how many detentions he gave.

Dumbledore stared at him for another second before Hermione hesitantly interjected, "Professor? What exactly did you mean when you said Harry isn't really alive?"

The old man sighed again and looked out the window overlooking the quidditch pitch and forest in the distance. "What you have to understand Ms. Granger, is that what Voldemort had planned for Mr. Potter was far worse than death. Over the past few months he has been preparing a ritual that would have bound Mr. Potter in body, soul, mind, and magic to Voldemort. Voldemort would have gained complete access to Mr. Potter's magic while Harry would have been cut off, unable to access his own core. Voldemort would have been able to order Mr. Potter to do anything and he would have been forced to comply, much like the Imperius but unable to be fought off and irrevocable once completed. He would have been a slave. A ritual of that magnitude takes time to enact. Months, in fact. And once it is started it cannot be stopped or the subject will perish under the weight of the magic turning against them when there is no release. When I say Mr. Potter is not exactly alive anymore I mean that while the entity you once knew as Harry Potter is very much still alive...he's not exactly Harry Potter anymore."

Ron's mind was spinning. The thought of anyone being bound as a slave to You-Know-Who, let alone Harry made him want to be sick. And what did he mean, not Harry Potter anymore? How can someone who isn't dead just stop being who they are?

"Does this have something to do with the questions about Harry's animagus form you asked us before?" Hermione asked.

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes. As I said, once magic of this scale is started it cannot be stopped. There was however a very small chance that it could be changed. Harry Potter could not be bound in slavery if there was no Harry Potter. At the same time however, a bonding had been started that had to happen somewhere. There are only three types of bonds, soul deep bonds, that sentient beings can undergo. A slavery bond, as Voldemort had started to enact; a marriage bond, which was not viable due to the fact that the beginnings of a slave bond were already underway; and a familiar bond, between a witch or wizard and a magical animal, that is equal parts both master and servant as well as partners and life companions. An animagus in animal form cannot be bound to another witch or wizard, neither can a transfigured witch or wizard be bound in such a way, the magic will always recognize them as human first." Dumbledore closed his eyes for a second before continuing, "What we did was monstrous. For all intents and purposes we killed Harry Potter ourselves. Harry Potter does not truly exist anymore as we changed his very nature. In order to channel the magic into a familiar bond we had to change Mr. Potter into something that even the magic would recognize as a true animal. We asked about animagus forms because the method we used to change him needs to have a path to follow. The magic and body and mind of the subject must have already experienced a willing shift into an animal form previously or it will not work. And due to the fact that a familiar bond will not work with animagi forms, the animal we chose to turn him into had to be something completely unrelated to the forms he has already accessed before. So. In conclusion, yes, the being that used to be Harry Potter is back here at Hogwarts; no, he is not as you remember him to be; and whether or not you can see him is entirely up to Professor Snape."

Ron was speechless. He looked helplessly over at Hermione, hoping she might know what to do now and saw her biting her lower lip, tears brimming in her large brown eyes. He cleared his throat, realizing that she was unable to help him right then, "So...what is he now? You said he's..." Ron hesitated, unable to call his best friend an animal, "not human anymore."

Dumbledore seemed to be blinking moisture from his own eyes as well and his voice had a hollow tone to it when he answered, "A panther. I suggested that whatever we chose should be a predator as he would have a better ability to protect himself. I was unsure of precisely what species he'd ended up as until Professor Snape brought him back. I expected a dog or a wolf perhaps but I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, Severus has always been more of a cat person," he muttered the last part under his breath and seemed shocked when that was what woke Hermione out of her stupor.

"How can you be okay with this! You, you, you have to do something!" her eyes glowed with fervour and her bushy hair seemed to frizz out even more than usual. "Why does he have to get Professor Snape's permission to see us? Not that I'm not grateful to him for stopping You-Know-Who, because I am. But why does that mean the professor now has control over who Harry sees? He can't just keep him like some kind of, some kind of pet!"

Ron hesitantly reached out, placing a hand on Hermione's arm. It wasn't very often that he understood something better than the bright muggleborn witch, but the few times it did happen it was usually involving something that was inherently known by people raised from birth in the wizarding world. Things that were rarely, if ever, put down in books because it seemed common sense and redundant to write about. "Hermione," he said softly, "Harry is Snape's familiar now." 

She turned to him, eyes shimmering, "Yes, I got that Ronald. That doesn't mean he can't still come and go as he pleases. Crookshanks is my familiar and he wanders the castle whenever he wants."

Ron was already shaking his head before she had even finished her sentence. "No, 'Mione. Crookshanks isn't your familiar, just like Scabbers wasn't mine," he paused for a moment thoughtfully, "not that he could have been, given the dirty rat was an animagus, but that's not the point. Crookshanks is just your pet. He has the potential to become your familiar but it doesn't just happen. To be in a familiar bond is to have a true connection with the animal. You have to preform a ritual that binds you by blood, soul, mind, and magic. You'll be able to feel the familiar in your mind at all times. You can share emotions and see through each others eyes. The witch or wizard will be able to channel magic through the familiar and pick up the familiar's internal magic too to become stronger at certain magics. Your lives become tied together so that if the master dies, the familiar dies too. There are even legends about being able to actually talk to your familiar mentally. If Harry is really Snape's familiar now there's nothing we can do about it. They'll have to stay together for the rest of their lives."

"That doesn't sound any better than what V-v-voldemort was going to do!" she raged.

"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore interjected and Ron jumped a bit, having forgotten he was there, "It is different because Professor Snape's familiar still has free will. He can still make his own choices, use his own magic, think his own thoughts. He will also be well taken care of. I can assure you that Voldemort would have had far less care for maintaining his health and well being. And something you should start trying to wrap your head around before you see him, something that I myself have been having a difficult time with, is that he is not human. I don't mean that his body isn't human, because it's not. But his mind is also not human. When I said you would need to check with Professor Snape to see if you could interact with him, it is not that I think he would deny you access to him, but more that he is the only one able to tell what state of mind he might be in and whether he may even want to spend time with the two of you. I don't want to sound harsh but his priorities now revolve around food, shelter, and Professor Snape. You may be better off pretending you don't know who he used to be and just treat him as you would any other witch or wizard's familiar."

Ron tried to fight down the urge to cry, the back of his eyes prickling uncomfortably. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. Especially for Harry. Though he tried his best not to act on it, and he knew he failed on occasion, he had always been slightly jealous of Harry for his fame, his money, hell even his looks - not being cursed with orange hair and freckles sounded like a dream. But right now, in this moment, he couldn't think of a single reason to be jealous. Hell he would add an extra three hundred freckles, give away half his wardrobe, and never pose for another photo in his life if it meant that Harry could just be Harry again. He missed his best friend. In all the time Harry had been missing Ron hadn't missed him more than right now, while Harry - or whatever was left of Harry - was only a few floors away. He determined then and there that no matter what Harry needed, he would do his best to give it. If Harry wanted a friend, and he really, really hoped he did, then that was what he'd be, and if all Harry wanted was a hunk of meat and a bowl of milk...well, he knew where the kitchens were and he could do that too.

* * *

Severus sat in his favourite armchair in front of his fire in the sitting room. The shower had done him worlds of good. The Dark Lord didn't believe in creature comforts for his followers, especially when he had a task for them and the entire three and a half weeks that he had been at the Dark Lord's manor he had been unable to take a shower, having to rely on excessive cleaning charms. It was unpleasant to say the least.

Sipping at the small glass of bourbon in his right hand he glanced down at the massive cat that was stretched out in front of the fire, easily taking up more than a third of his living room. He sighed, "I suppose we should figure out a name for you."

The cat glanced up and he felt the questioning thrum from the bond. "Because I'm getting sick of referring to you as 'hey you' even in my own head and it would be nice to be able to hold a conversation with Albus without having to dance around the name Harry Potter like it's made of hot coals."

He could almost hear the laughter in his mind as the panther huffed. Severus supposed it was the closest thing to a laugh he could manage now.

"Would you like to continue going by Harry?" he asked. He felt the question being carefully evaluated and then the feeling of rejection came down the bond. Severus nodded, "I didn't think so, but I thought I'd ask all the same."

He swallowed and met the cat's eyes.

"Look, I know we have a history and, although I'm not entirely sure what your thoughts about me are now, I know I'm probably not even close to being your favourite person, but I want you to know that I will do my best to give you as much freedom as I can. I never took a familiar because I always thought the bond far too controlling and invasive but in this case there were few choices and all of them were bad. It was a matter of choosing the lesser evil. Hopefully we can make this work because the alternative is one of us kills the other and then we both die anyway," he finished dryly.

The amusement that rang down the bond this time was clear and honest. He quirked a smile at the beast. "So, what shall we call you? I'm thinking Snuggles, or Fluffikins. How about you?"

Indignation soon replaced the amusement and he had never known that a cat's face could look so affronted. He managed to maintain a straight face until he felt a gentle push at his mind from the bond. Curious, he decided to allow whatever the cat was transmitting to come through. The image of himself in Dumbledore's robes appeared in his mind bright and vivid and he cringed. "Yes, I suppose I deserved that, but never, _ever_ make me look at that again," he shuddered.

He looked at the cat for a minute, "What about Anyx? I think it suits."

The large head cocked to the side and he could feel the cat running them name around in its mind before giving a short nod, a brief swell of approval carrying down the bond.

Severus smiled a bit, "Well then, Anyx, welcome home."

* * *

Anyx laid on the rug in front of the fire. The man in the chair in front of him was slowly drinking some foul smelling liquid and talking to him periodically. The human eventually rose and Anyx lifted to his feet to follow his bondmate. 

The human stopped and turned to him, face twisting in some expression that Anyx couldn't quite remember well enough to identify, "No. You stay here. I'm just going to the bathroom. I'll be right back." Anyx cocked his head to the side but slowly lowered himself in front of the fire again, watching carefully as his human moved towards the door at the back of the room. Settling his large head down onto his crossed front paws, he waited, keeping a close eye on the door that his human had gone through.

The other human, the one with the long white face fur had spoken to him as well, though he didn't understand the white furred human as well as his human. Some distant part of his brain supplied that the white furred human was called Dumbledore and Anyx' human was called Snape but it was a kind of abstract knowledge. Something that flitted around his understanding. When White-Fur talked it reached his ears as nothing but a jumble of sounds that only made sense when he really concentrated on remembering what the sounds meant. Even then, once he understood the words he had to try and connect what the White-Fur was saying with what those words meant. It was exhausting. Whereas when his human talked to him he got impressions, and emotions, and sometimes images from the bond, making it easy to quickly realize what his human was saying and having it make sense.

Anyx knew, in a distant sort of sense, that he wasn't always like this. In fact he knew he had only been like this for a day or two. But time had ceased to truly have any importance to him. He was Anyx now. He had a human who other humans called Snape. He had to protect his human. He knew he used to be a human as well. He knew he used to answer to the name Harry. That's what the White-Fur kept calling him - Harry. He didn't like it. While trying to look at his life as Harry was like looking through a frosted pane of glass for the most part, he did know that when he was Harry he didn't like being Harry. One thing he did remember clearly from being Harry was the intense, seemingly never ending, pain and humiliation he felt prior to when his human showed up. It had gone on and on and on and on. He had a very hard time trying to remember details from before but he definitely remembered the pain. So, overall, he quite liked being Anyx now. It was much better than being a human named Harry.

His human moved back into the room and he lifted his head to more effectively follow his movements across the room. Again, he distantly remembered that when he was human he didn't like this man. Couldn't stand to be in his presence any longer than he had to. But now he felt an overwhelming urge to keep this man safe, to make him happy, to be there for him no matter what. It was a very odd sensation because he's quite sure he's never felt anything like it before...even when he was a human called Harry.

His human had just sat down again and picked up the smelly liquid glass when there was a loud knock at the door.

Anyx was instantly on his feet, standing between his human and the door, head lowered, teeth bared, ready to pounce on anything that came through the door.

His human stood and rested his right hand on Anyx' left shoulder, just behind the silver metal collar around his neck, "Relax, Anyx. Go lay down." Anyx felt the words reverberate through the bond and knew that his human wanted him to return to the rug, but he met his eyes instead before glancing to the door and back, not wanting to chance anything happening to his human if he was too far away.

"Anyx," his human said a little more firmly. "Go lay down." Anyx twitched, ears swivelling in all directions as he tried to decide whether to listen to his human or his instincts. His human's face creasing into what he vaguely recognized as a frown finally tipped the scale and he succumbed to the urge to make his human happy by obeying and turned slowly to lay in front of the fire once more.

His human shot him a small, close-lipped smile, "Thank you, Anyx." The genuine appreciation rolling down the bond from his human made his whole body want to shiver in pleasure, from the ends of his whiskers to the tip of his tail.

His lashing tail, the only sign of his aggravation at being so far from his human, Anyx was not prepared for when his human opened the door and a small form hurled itself at him, latching onto his human, "Uncle Sev!"


	6. Chapter 6

**RELATIONSHIPS**

Draco sat at the Slytherin table, slowly picking his way through a small plate of shepherd's pie for lunch. Though his lack of appetite had him more just pushing a few peas around and mushing the potatoes more than they already were rather than actually eating.

This was the first time that he could ever remember not spending Christmas with his parents. Instead, he had been stuck here at Hogwarts all break with only Theodore Nott for company. Nott really wasn't too bad but they weren't really friends either.

Draco missed waking up on Christmas morning to his mother sneaking a gift into his room to open before breakfast. Father always made them wait until after dinner on Christmas day to open gifts but his mother would always creep into his room in the wee hours of the morning and give him one gift to open before he even got out of bed. When he was younger he relished in the subterfuge and the niggling fear that they might get caught by Father. As he got older he became more and more sure that Father knew exactly what Mother was doing but looked the other way as his own form of Christmas present to his wife. Knowing that Father probably knew didn't stop the overwhelming joy he felt on those mornings though when he got to see Mother with her hair down and no makeup and just a dressing robe over her nightclothes. When she would smile and her whole face would light up as she watched him tear open the paper of whatever she gave him. She was always so prim and proper even at home that he cherished the moments that he got to see her relaxed. 

And he missed that this year.

There was no one to wake him on Christmas morning. When Draco had awoke to the hanging green curtains of his dorm bed he had laid there for some time before checking the time. It had been just after eight in the morning. Normally Mother would wake him at four or five, long before the sun had even made an appearance yet. But instead, he had woken to a cold dorm, not another soul in sight as Nott had apparently already gotten up and left the room.

Draco yanked himself from his thoughts and pushed away the plate. Thinking about this and getting all melancholy wouldn't help him. He knew why Mother had insisted he stay at the school this year. He also knew Father had been furious with Mother for telling him not to come home. He shuddered at the thought of what was in his home right now. The Dark Lord had apparently taken up residence in Malfoy Manor and Mother wanted to keep him as far away from there as she could.

Draco wandered the corridors aimlessly as he tried to work out his feelings. He was...pretty sure...he didn't want to become a Death Eater. That had been a fairly recent revelation for Draco. He had always been raised by his Father to believe in the Dark Lord's cause and to worship the ground before the wizard. And to a certain extent he did believe in some of the ideals the Dark Lord promoted. But he had to truly admire his Mother more than anyone. She was the most Slytherin being he had ever met. She had somehow, without him realizing until years later, managed to slowly turn his opinions away from what Father said without ever coming right out and saying that she disagreed with him. It truly was masterful work he mused. 

If he looked back, he could not pinpoint a single time she actively went against Father whether in tone or word or action. And yet, she had somehow managed to slide in under the years of conditioning that Father was subjecting him to and instil a sense of morals, of right and wrong, of self-worth that had nothing to do with how much money he had and everything to do with knowing that he would never bend a knee to someone else.

Draco sighed and paused in his meandering to look out at the snow covered lawns and quidditch pitch below. Seeing the sun at a considerably lower point he cast a quick _tempus_ and was shocked when he realized he had been wandering for hours now. Looking around, he saw he was on the sixth floor. Deciding to head back down towards the library, he turned a corner and was surprised when he could hear muffled voices coming from behind a tapestry.

Snorting softly under his breath, assuming it was a couple trying to get some away from prying eyes, he went to continue towards the stairs when he made out Granger's voice, "Ron! Look, Professor Snape is back!"

Draco froze, his ears slightly ringing. He vaguely heard Granger say something else but was already moving towards the stairs as quickly as he could without actually running. When his Mother had told him to stay at the castle over the hols he had at least been able to comfort himself with the knowledge that he could spend some time with his Godfather. But Uncle Severus had left on the first day and nobody had seen him since...until now apparently. His Godfather hadn't even sent him a card and the usual present of vials of potions ingredients that he always got from Uncle Sev for Christmas.

Hurrying down the many flights of stairs, jumping over the fake ones out of muscle memory now as he had been doing this for almost five years now. He broke into a run once he was in the dungeons and it was far less likely for anyone to see him. He raced through the corridors, bypassing the hallway that led to the Slytherin dorms and past the potions classroom. He finally slowed when he got to the seemingly blank stone wall that he knew hid the entrance to his Godfather's rooms and banged on the wall.

There was a moment of silence as he bent at the waist, hands on his knees as he panted to try and catch his breath from the long sprint.

The wall dissolved, showing his Godfather standing just inside holding the wooden door open.

Draco promptly launched himself at the man, calling his name as he grabbed him in a bone crushing hug.

His Godfather stumbled backwards as he caught Draco, returning the hug and allowing the door to swing shut behind them.

"Hello Dragon," he heard the soft amused voice of his Uncle Sev reach his ears. At the same time however he heard an enormous, vicious sounding snarl and felt the air whip by him as his Godfather's arms tighten around his shoulders and back and spin him rapidly to the side, seemingly shielding him from something in the room.

"ANYX!" his Godfather barked out. "Enough! This is my Godson. Be nice."

The snarling noises had died down, though Draco could still hear a low growling and tentatively peeked over his Godfather's shoulder. He paled as he saw the massive black panther pacing back and forth, staring at the two of them agitatedly. "Umm," he started nervously, "Uncle Sev? Why do you have a giant cat that looks like it wants to eat me in your rooms?" His voice had gone a little high and breathy as he asked his question, unable to tear his eyes away from the pacing, growling creature.

His Godfather sighed as he disentangled himself from Draco to stand up straight and Draco had to fight the urge to cling to the man and hide like he had done on occasion as a child. "Go sit down, Dragon. I'll explain in a minute."

Draco slowly moved over to the couch, walking backwards so that he didn't turn his back on the beast that was still glaring at him. He watched as his Godfather moved slowly towards the panther, stepping in front of its line of vision to block Draco, before gently reaching out and cupping the large face in his hands. He didn't seem to do anything after that except stare in into the panther's eyes, but after a minute or so had passed he slowly straightened and ran a pale, long fingered hand over the fur on the cat's head as the beast slowly relaxed and turned to look at Draco again, though this time it seemed curious rather than murderous so Draco counted his blessing where he could.

His Godfather moved over to the armchair he always sat in with the cat following close behind. When Uncle Severus sat down, running a hand over his face, the panther laid down beside the chair, still looking at Draco.

Draco quietly spoke up again, "Umm Uncle Sev?"

His Godfather looked up at him and he could see how tired the man looked. He seemed even thinner than normal, though Draco wasn't sure how much of that was because he lost weight and how much was because he was only in a button down shirt and slacks without his usual billowing robes.

"This, Draco," he said, gesturing to the animal at his feet, "Is Anyx. He is my familiar."

Draco stared wide eyed at the two dark haired beings. "What?"

His Godfather looked pained, "You should think very carefully before you decide to continue associating with me Dragon. I've openly betrayed the Dark Lord and no doubt your Father would be less than pleased if we were to maintain any kind of relationship."

Draco was absolutely floored. He knew his Godfather had been a Death Eater just like his father and he had never given any indication that he was anything but perfectly loyal. It was one of the things tearing him apart when he thought about his own wavering indecision to join the Dark Lord's ranks. The thought that he would lose both his Father and Godfather if he decided not to take the Mark had kept him up on more than one night.

"How," he started then swallowed the lump in his throat, "How did you betray him?"

Uncle Sev looked at him for a moment, "You will likely hear this from others eventually so I will tell you." He motioned towards the panther again, "You used to be acquainted with Anyx. The Dark Lord had planned to bind him into slavery but I interfered and bound him to myself instead and left, destroying a good number of his plans in the process."

Draco could tell the confusion was showing on his face, "I feel like I would have remembered meeting a panther before. They're not exactly common here."

"Anyx, sit up for a moment please." Uncle Sev beckoned him closer and Draco hesitantly moved to stand by the armchair. He watched as Uncle Sev ran his long fingers through the fur and parted some right in front of the cat's left ear, revealing an angry red scar that seemed to continue down the face, though it was hard to tell with the fur covering it how far it might go, and near the brow ridge he could see a faint white lightning bolt scar under the red streak.

Draco stumbled backwards to fall onto the couch in shock. "That's Potter," he breathed quietly. He suddenly let out a slightly hysterical laugh, "Oh Merlin. You stole Harry Potter from the Dark Lord!"

Uncle Sev just nodded as the panther laid back down, its eyes still trained on Draco though it seemed more curious about him than anything else.

The sudden fear of losing his Godfather slammed into him again, but this time it was much worse. Now he may not lose his Godfather because of which side he chose in the war but because the Dark Lord would definitely be out for revenge. "He'll kill you," he whispered quietly.

The wry quirk of his Godfather's lips made Draco want to scream. How could he not be taking this seriously? Why would he risk everything for bloody Scarhead? 

"Dragon," Uncle Sev started quietly, "This was a long time coming. If it wasn't this, it would have been something else that eventually gave me away. I have not been loyal to the Dark Lord since before you were born. I have always been moving against him, feeding information to the other side and slowing him down where I could." He gave a soft chuckle, "If anything, this is the safest way this could have happened. I now have a dangerous predator whose sole priority in life is protecting me and it has all the power and strength of Harry Potter behind it."

Draco's eyes widened, "Wait. You mean...you mean that this is not just a cover to hide him? He's not just an animagus pretending to be your familiar? How is that possible?"

Draco watched as his Godfather's face fell and something like bitter regret twisted his features. "I changed him. He truly is my familiar. Ritual and all. He's not human anymore, Dragon, and he never will be again. He still has his memories but they're distant to him. I've done many terrible things in my life...but this might just be the worst. He'll never be Harry Potter again. Now he's just Anyx."

Draco couldn't seem to wrap his head around the idea that his schoolyard nemesis would never again throw insults or hexes back and forth with him. He would never compete to see which of them could catch the snitch first. He would never watch him from across the Great Hall during meals, waiting for something to happen to the other that they could mock. It almost would have been better if Potter had died. He could have eventually reconciled the missing part of his school life as Potter never coming back. He had already started actually, ever since Potter was captured he had been trying to get himself used to the fact that Potter would never come back. But now...now Potter _was_ back...but he wasn't Potter.

Draco was pulled from his thoughts as his Godfather rose to his feet, grabbing his thick winter cloak from where it was hanging by the door. The panther had stood as well and was waiting by the door. 

"Well, Dragon," Uncle Sev said softly, "I suppose this is goodbye." He gave a sad smile and Draco's fluctuating thoughts suddenly solidified. He knew his Mother would prefer him to stay out of the war and would support him. His Father, of course, would be absolutely furious and might even disown him but he found he didn't care as much about that as he did the thought that he would never be able to interact with his Godfather again. His Godfather who had been more of a father figure to him growing up than Lucius Malfoy had ever been.

"No," he said firmly, reaching out and snagging Uncle Sev's spare cloak from the second hook. "I think I'll join you."

* * *

Severus stepped through the double doors at the front of the castle and pulled his cloak closer around himself to ward off the chill. Daylight was fading and he could tell it would be sunset soon; the orange and red streaks splitting the sky.

Draco stepped out close behind him and he saw the blonde pull the collar of his borrowed cloak up around his ears. Severus sent a quick warming charm at his Godson and applied one to his own cloak as well. The panther slipped out the door last and stopped on the top step beside them before looking up at Severus. He felt the bond thrum a questioning note and his nodded his head once. The large cat instantly turned and bounded out across the lawn, seemingly able to run atop the snow instead of sinking into the snowbanks on his way towards the Forest. 

Following at a sedate pace Severus trekked through the knee deep snow, Draco a step behind him. He came to a stop about fifteen yards from the tree line that Anyx had disappeared into.

He glanced over at his Godson who was trying to peer into the dark woods. He was equal parts worried and relieved. Severus was sure that Draco didn't truly understand the hardships that he would soon face as a consequence of turning his back on his father and the Dark Lord and if he could take the boy away to some distant country that had never heard of the Dark Lord Voldemort he would do it in a second. At the same time, he was beyond relieved that he wouldn't have to witness his Godchild become bitter and twisted under the rule of the monster as he himself had. 

"Uncle Sev?" Draco questioned, breaking Severus out of his maudlin thoughts.

He hummed.

"What about Mother? I know she doesn't believe in the Dark Lord...at least not the way she should. And once Father finds out that I've decided not to follow the Dark Lord won't she be in danger?" Draco nearly whispered the last bit looking conflicted himself.

Severus sighed and looked back towards the trees. "If you're absolutely positive that she will support your decision then I will send her a message saying that I would like to meet with her. I'll see about getting her out of the country or at least to a safe house for the time being. You'll be safe at Hogwarts for now but you are correct that this could be a dangerous position for her to be in." He reached out and rested a hand on the teenager's shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze. "You have my word that I will do everything that I feasibly can to keep your mother safe, Dragon."

Draco gave him a shaky smile and then let out a loud _oomf_ as a blur of black fur slammed into him, pushing him into a nearby snowbank, sending a flurry of white flakes cascading into the air.

Severus whipped his wand out before lowering it again, trying to keep a smile from his face as he saw Anyx's wide sandpaper tongue drag up the side of Draco's face and into his hair, destroying the perfect blond coif that he had undoubtedly spent hours getting perfect.

The panther jumped up and bounded around Draco's struggling form, sending more and more snow to bury the boy who was valiantly trying to dig his way back upright. Severus could feel the mischievous amusement flowing down the bond and he knew the panther knew exactly what he was doing.

" _Aargh_! Uncle Sev! Call off your bloody beast!"

Snickering quietly behind his hand, Severus finally spoke up, "Anyx, come."

The panther took one last jump into a towering snow pile, burying the teenager up to his shoulders before trotting over to him smugly. Anyx sat down next to his left leg and watched with him as Draco finally managed to shove himself to his feet; robes and hair in total disarray, looking thoroughly disgruntled.

"Uncle Sev! You're just going to let him get away with that?" Draco demanded indignantly while glaring at the panther.

Severus tapped his chin with his index finger contemplatively before turning to the panther, "Well, Anyx? What do you think?" The cat looked up at him, green eyes sparkling. "Ah yes, an excellent idea." He turned and started for the castle leaving the panther sitting in the snow. He passed Draco and made it about ten feet further when Draco's sputtering voice sounded from behind him.

"Wait! What's an excellent idea? Why are you leaving? Aren't you going to do something?!" A second _oomf_ followed by a cry of rage came from behind him and he looked back to see Anyx bounding towards him from where he had knocked Draco down again. The cat ran past him all the way up to the castle where he settled on the steps waiting for them.

"Hurry up, Dragon, it's getting cold out here," he called over his shoulder mildly as he continued walking towards the main doors. He smiled as he listened to the enraged mutterings of his Godson.

As he walked towards his bondmate Severus couldn't help feeling a little guilt tinge his joy. He felt happier than he had in decades; he was no longer under the thumb of the Dark Lord, he didn't have to spy for Albus anymore, and his Godson wasn't going to make the same mistake that he had in the folly of his youth. But the reason for that happiness sat on the stone steps watching them and he couldn't help but feel an oily layer of shame coat his skin as he realized that all of his current contentment hinged on the destruction of an innocent boy.

One he had sworn to protect at all costs.

One he had failed.


	7. Chapter 7

**INFORMATION**

Hermione was beyond frazzled. It had been two days since she and Ron had spoken to the Headmaster and he had told them about Harry's situation. She had been in a mild state of shock for almost an hour after they had left the office to head back to the Gryffindor common room. When she had finally come out of the daze that she was in she had left with haste to go to the library, barely noticing Ron's uncharacteristically introspective look.

She glanced around at the piles of books stacked around her on the study table she sat at. She had practically lived in the library for the past two days, emerging only for the occasional meal and to go back to the dorm to sleep only when Madame Pince kicked her out in the evenings. She had pulled nearly every book the Hogwarts library had on familiar bonds, permanent human to animal transfiguration, and animagi. So far she had found nothing that would help. 

She shoved her hand through her bushy hair to get it out of her face, yanking a few strands out roughly when her fingers caught in some tangles. She couldn't believe that the Headmaster had been so blase about the whole situation, acting as though Professor Snape owned Harry or something now. 

Hermione was sure that whatever had been done could be undone. If she could find any information on what they had done in the first place it would go a long way towards her being able to figure out how to fix it - unfortunately so far she had found zilch. 

Ron had been no help whatsoever, although she hadn't been expecting much help in the research side of things she had at least expected some moral support from him. She fully expected him to be right there beside her ranting and raving about how unfair it all was and how Professor Snape was an evil git or greasy dungeon bat or any one of the various names she often scolded him for using. But he hadn't. Instead, every time she tried to run her potential ideas by him, he would just look at her like she was the crazy one and would say some tripe about how familiar bonds were permanent and soul magic and she shouldn't try to mess with it.

Hermione blew an aggravated breath out through her nose and rubbed her temples. Standing up she stalked back out towards the shelves of books on various types of bonds.

She _would_ figure this out.

* * *

The loud rumbling of Anyx' purring filled the room, drowning out the crackle of the fire in the hearth. Severus was valiantly trying to suppress his amusement from showing on his face as he watched his Godson struggling to not be crushed by the massive black cat that was currently trying to rub his head and neck over every part of Draco's body.

"Uncle Sev! Do something!" the desperate whine coming from the blond boy was almost enough to completely undo any attempt at pretending he couldn't see what was happening.

He was sitting in his armchair as usual and Draco was on the couch. Anyx had his back legs on the floor for leverage while his upper body was partially on the couch and partially in Draco's lap, shoving his large angular head into the boy so he could rub cheeks with his Godson. 

In the two days since Draco had come to see him after he and Anyx had returned Draco had shown up every day. The boy would usually spend three or four hours in his living room visiting before Severus would kick him out. In that time, Anyx had apparently decided to take quite a shine to Draco. Severus wasn't sure how much of the sudden affection was from the disconnect of old memories of their previous rivalry and how much was Anyx responding to the bleed over of Severus' own affection for his Godson.

"Uncle Sev!" Severus was pulled out of his thoughts to see that Anyx had finally gotten fully up onto the couch and was almost entirely covering the lithe teenager. The couch looked minuscule compared to the size of the panther and he was grateful that he had thought to put unbreakable charms on all of his furniture after Anyx had accidentally broke his dining table by just leaning against it.

He snorted softly before figuring he should rescue his Godson.

"Anyx. Come." He waited for the large head to swing towards him before beckoning the cat with his hand. Severus watched as Anyx slowly removed himself from the couch. He noted that the panther was very careful about where he placed his paws as he was levering himself off of his Godson and he was grateful as Severus was quite sure that Draco's body would not have been able to withstand the concentrated weight of the beast if Anyx had stepped directly on the boy. The last thing he needed was to have to take Draco to the infirmary for broken bones or crushed organs.

Severus quirked his lips briefly at Anyx and ran a hand over the large head as he watched Draco out of the corner of his eye trying to straighten his robes and brush the short black hairs off of himself.

"Go lay down, Anyx," he said softly, watching with shaded eyes as the cat gave his hand one last head bump before moving to lay down in front of the fire.

"Uncle Sev?" Draco's voice said hesitantly.

He hummed, looking away from the panther that was now cleaning his front paws and glancing towards Draco.

"I know you said before he wasn't Harry Potter anymore but...I...I mean...." Draco furrowed his brows. "If you hadn't told me who he was, I never would have known. Does...does he not remember me? Us? I mean...does he really not remember how much we used to fight?"

Severus sighed. 

"It's not that he doesn't remember the rivalry between you. He just has an entirely different mindset now. His priority is to protect me and do what he can to make me happy. By default that means caring about you because _I_ care about you."

"How do you know?" Draco was looking between Anyx and Severus as he spoke. "How do you know he remembers anything or why he seems to like me now? Or are you just speculating?"

Severus took a moment to summon a house elf to request a tea tray before answering. "The bond that we share was completed shortly after we returned to Hogwarts. I have never had a familiar before so I do not know how much of our bond is normal and how much may be different because of the unique circumstances. I do know that as the days have passed the bond has gotten stronger, evolved almost, from what it was in the first few hours after it should have settled."

He paused as the house elf popped back in with the tea. Reaching out to fix himself a cup, he gestured for Draco to help himself. Leaning back in the chair and taking a sip of the warm liquid he continued, "It started as just a general awareness of his presence in my mind. Then I began to be able to determine certain emotions from him. After that he was able to send me images. It continued to grow in such a fashion until now I am able to see into his mind and memories through the lens that he sees them. He can now communicate with me fluently using a mixture of emotion and images, sometimes full memories that he'll send to me." Severus took another sip of tea and tapped his fingers on the armrest before adding quietly, "The bond shows no signs of stopping its continued growth either. There is every possibility that he may eventually be able to speak to me telepathically in words rather than just concepts.

"Along with the bond growing I can feel his awareness growing. When he first woke up after the ritual he was little more than the wild animal he looks to be, attacking anything and everything nearby. By the time we completed the reciprocal portion of the bond he had reabsorbed enough to recognize certain people and be able to at least partially understand things that were said to him. Now, as far as I can tell anyway, he still has the overwhelming instincts of a panther and the drive to protect his bondmate," he made a brief gesture to himself," but he seems to be fully aware of all of his memories of his life before. His comprehension of language is almost perfect and his understanding of various situations is far beyond what one might expect even from a very intelligent magical animal.

"He seems to remember his life as Harry Potter as though it were a particularly vivid dream, or a book he read. He can recall most of the details and all of the main points but it's as though it didn't happen to him; as though he was merely a bystander watching everything happening.

"So when you ask if he remembers your arguments and quarrels I can say with certainty that, yes, he remembers your disputes but he has no investment in continuing them. He is much more concerned with keeping you safe for my sake and I strongly suspect that a great deal of the affection that he shows you now is a mirror reaction to my own love for you."

Draco's eyes were wide as he took in the flood of information and Severus watched as he looked over at the panther by the hearth. Anyx' eyes were open and Severus could see the green irises glinting in the firelight as Anyx returned Draco's gaze calmly. He felt a steady flow of acceptance from the bond as Anyx agreed with what he had told Draco.

Severus cast a _tempus_ and saw that it was nearing dinner time and put his now empty teacup down on the coffee table and gained Draco's attention. "It's six thirty now, Draco. You should start making your way to dinner. I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow," he said with a wry lip twist.

Draco immediately pouted, "Can't I stay here with you for dinner?" Severus and Anyx had been taking meals in their quarters since returning, not feeling up to dealing with the many questions that would no doubt be thrown their way.

"No. You know that all students must attend dinner in the Great Hall. Now, get," Severus said making a vague shooing motion towards the door, ignoring his Godson's grumbling as he reluctantly moved towards the door. "Good night, Dragon."

Draco pouted over his shoulder one last time before swinging open the door and stepping though, calling a put out, "Good night," over his shoulder as the door swung shut behind him.

Severus smirked at the door. He loved his Godson dearly but his feathers were so easy to ruffle. A heavy weight on his legs pulled his gaze around and he rested his right hand between the ears on Anyx' head that was now resting in his lap as the slitted green eyes stared up at him from the panther's slightly hunched seated position.

"Well," he said as he rubbed one of the soft ears between his thumb and forefinger, "I suppose we should order some dinner as well."

A loud rumbling purr filled the room.

* * *

Ron was getting concerned. Hermione had been going on one of her research binges again. It wasn't overly unusual for her to get completely sucked into a topic and find out everything she could about it but this was starting to remind him of the previous year when she had started her crusade to free the house elves...but worse. Once again she was trying to change things that she didn't really understand. 

He had tried multiple times to explain what he could to her about what a familiar bond entailed and how it was something sacred that shouldn't been messed with. Half the time she didn't even seem to hear him and the few times she did acknowledge him she dismissed anything he said and went right back to the library.

Ron hadn't seen Harry and Snape yet, or even just Snape, but had taken to watching their dots on the Marauder's Map every evening before he went to bed. He still wasn't sure why Harry's footprints didn't have a name even though Snape and Harry had surely decided on a new name by now since Dumbledore had said he wasn't going by Harry anymore.

His best guess was that it didn't have a name because even though the Map would register an animagus and would show their name, animals didn't show up at all. And, as far as he understood Dumbledore's explanation, Harry was somewhere in between being an animagus and...not human. So maybe he still had enough wizard magic to show up but wasn't quite human enough for for the Map to recognize a name. Maybe. 

Ron supposed he could run his theory by Sirius and Lupin as they had helped create... _Sirius!_

He sat bolt upright on the bench from where he had been slouched in his thoughts as he ate his dinner in the Great Hall. 

"Merlin," he breathed quietly under his breath. He shovelled one last forkful of roasted carrots into his mouth before standing and striding towards the Head table. Hermione didn't even glance up from the book she was buried in.

Ron glanced around the Hall and saw that several people had already left as it was nearing the end of the dinner hour and there were only about ten students present as well as one or two teachers and Dumbledore. He climbed the three steps onto the short dais that the Head table sat on, ignoring the curious glances that were thrown his way.

"Professor?" he asked quietly as he came to a stop in front of Dumbledore, remaining a respectful few feet from the edge of the table.

Dumbledore placed his knife and fork to the side, raised his napkin and delicately wiped the corners of his mouth as he raised his head to look at Ron. He smiled kindly, "What can I do for you, my dear boy?" 

Ron took a step or two closer to the table and lowered his voice to barely above a whisper, forcing the old man to lean slightly towards him to hear the soft spoken words that were uncharacteristic of the usually loud and boisterous Weasley boy. "Professor, I had a thought," Ron sucked in a nervous breath and glanced around suspiciously before taking another small step forward, now almost touching the table with his thighs. "Do you know...Professor, do you know if anyone has told Si - Padfoot - do you know if anyone has told Padfoot about Har - I mean Professor Snape's familiar yet?" he managed to get out finally with a few stumbles and backtracking.

Ron watched as Dumbledore seemed to freeze for a moment, his eye twinkle dimming considerably. Ron waited for another moment while Dumbledore seemed as though petrified. "Sir?" he asked hesitantly.

The old man snapped to attention and gave him a smile, though Ron noticed that the eye twinkle didn't return, "Thank you very much, my boy, for bringing this to my attention. I'm afraid that with everything happening it completely slipped my mind and I'm unsure as to whether Professor Snape has sent him a letter detailing the situation yet."

Ron had to suppress a guffaw at the thought of Snape ever willingly sending a polite or sympathetic letter to Sirius. Ron had seen them in the same room together a couple of times over the summer holidays where his family had stayed at the Order's Headquarters; he was honestly shocked that the house was still standing and they hadn't killed each other yet. The two dark haired men seemed to hate each other with a burning passion. Ron had never even seen Snape act that bad towards Harry and before this summer Ron would have put money on the fact that Harry was Snape's most hated person.

Dumbledore rose to his feet with a flourish of his aggressively magenta with neon orange butterfly pattern robes and smiled once more at Ron, "I think I shall go send that letter now. Thank you again, my boy, for reminding me of the others that are bound to be affected by all that has happened." With that, the old man turned and swept out of the Hall using the rear teacher's entrance behind the long table, leaving Ron to awkwardly make his way down the stairs amongst several curious stares.

Looking around, Ron realized that Hermione must have already headed back to the library as he didn't see her bushy hair at the Gryffindor table anymore. Sighing, he realized that there was less than ten minutes left of dinner and just headed towards the main doors of the Hall.

* * *

Ron sat on his bed with his hangings pulled closed. It wasn't for privacy, as no one else in his year besides himself and Hermione had stayed for the hols, but rather to block his view of Harry's bed that he now knew would never be slept in by his dark haired friend ever again.

He sat with his back propped up on his pillow against the headboard as he stared at the Marauder's Map, open once again to show the dungeons - more specifically, what he assumed were Snape's quarters - to watch the two sets of footprints, one with Snape's name in the banner above and one with an empty banner.

Ron jiggled his right knee up and down and tugged at a fraying thread on his Weasley Christmas sweater with his left hand as he chewed his bottom lip in indecision. 

"What kind of bloody Gryffindor are you?" he asked himself disgustedly as he finally hauled himself to his feet and shoved on his shoes, striding quickly towards the door.

* * *

Severus was reading the newest issue of _Potions Monthly_ while Anyx finished his dinner. The house elves had brought him a plate heaped with roast beef and gravy with all the fixings and freshly baked rolls. For Anyx they had brought a large bowl filled with what he assumed were cubes of raw beef or venison.

He was just reading an article where some hyped up imbecile was claiming that mixing newmoon mountain dew and runespoor fangs into a base of frog spleens, scarab shells, and dandelion roots would produce a cure for ingrown toenails and listening to the scraping sound of Anyx' rough tongue licking his bowl clean of any juices when there was a knock at the door.

Severus frowned as he placed the editorial down on the table to his right, rising to head towards the door. He felt the bond hum with wary tension and he glanced over to see Anyx had sat up and was partially crouched, ready to spring at the door should it be needed. Severus was just glad that Anyx had regained enough awareness that he didn't immediately attack everything anymore.

Swinging the door open, Severus felt his eyebrows raise slightly as he found himself looking down at the youngest Weasley boy who was blushing furiously and looking slightly sheepish.

"I...I'm sorry to bother you sir," the boy visibly gulped, adam's apple bobbing harshly in his throat. "I was wondering if I could visit with Harry...or whatever his name is now?" 

It was on the tip of Severus' tongue to harshly turn the boy away and slam the door in his face when he felt a wave of curiosity flow through the familiar bond. Severus glanced over his shoulder towards Anyx who wasn't visible to Weasley and found the panther was sitting upright from his previous crouch with his head cocked to the side. Severus felt the questioning twang from the bond and then sighed when an image popped into his head of Weasley. The image was clearly from a memory of the Gryffindor dorm room as Weasley was sitting on an obnoxiously red bed, wearing blue and white striped pyjamas, with his head thrown backwards in a laugh. The image was paired with a strong feeling of query, as though asking for confirmation that the voice heard was the person that Anyx had pulled from Harry Potter's memories.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose harshly. Anyx must have truly cared for this Weasley, far beyond just friendship, most likely Harry Potter saw the boy as something like a brother. And now the general lack of emotion Anyx felt towards his previous life was clashing with the fact that so many of Harry Potter's memories seemed to involve this person. Anyx was curious about meeting this person who was seemingly important to his past self but Severus' own displeasure at having a Weasley on his doorstep was bleeding over, creating a dichotomy of intrigue and disgust that Anyx' limited emotional quotient just wasn't able to sort through properly. 

Hissing under his breath he dropped his hand from his face and glared at the red haired boy. He continued to stare the boy down even as he addressed Anyx, "Yes, Anyx. This is Ronald Weasley. Harry Potter was friends with him." He looked away from the freckled teenager finally to look over his shoulder again at Anyx. He made an effort to reign in his displeasure as he spoke again, "Would you like to meet him?"

He felt the hesitancy mixed with curiosity tangled through the bond and sighed. He turned slightly to face the cat, completely ignoring the red headed brat, "I personally do not like him. However, you are free to like or dislike whoever you wish. Obviously my emotions will affect yours to some degree but I would like you to make decisions based on your own choices not on what you think I want you to do...at least in the context of befriending others." Severus did his best to ignore the slack jawed gape of the child just outside the door and just looked at Anyx, waiting for his decision.

Several minutes later Severus almost despaired of ever being able to sit down again and Weasley was shifting from foot to foot while fidgeting with his fingers. At the same time, though, Severus was willing to wait for however long this took. As much as he despised the thought of a Weasley contaminating his living space he almost hoped that Anyx would decide he wanted to visit with Weasley. If he did it would be the first real choice that Anyx will have made to go against what he wished, beyond sometimes ignoring orders in an effort to protect him. And that didn't really count as Anyx' strongest drive would always be to protect him no matter what he said. He knew that this line of thinking was rather selfish in itself as well; he recognized that he was hoping to shed at least some of the guilt that plagued him over what he had done to Lily's little boy. If Anyx could make a choice that would inherently displease Severus, that would mean that he had proof that he hadn't completely taken the boy's free will away.

After another minute or two of the bond twisting and writhing with indecision he felt a very tentative confirmation paired with a short, soundless memory of the Weasley boy sitting on the floor next to the viewer gesticulating wildly as his mouth moved rapidly in what appeared to be a very animated conversation, blue eyes bright with merriment.

Severus sighed deeply but still shot a small smile towards Anyx. "Well done, Anyx," he murmured quietly and he felt the anxiety that had been swelling mostly recede from the bond.

He let one small wave of reassurance and pride flow down the bond before he whipped around to glare at the red head again. The boy startled, jumping almost a foot into the air, and stumbling backwards slightly. Severus jabbed a finger towards Weasley's face, pointing aggressively.

"You will remain seated either on the couch or the floor. You will not leave the living room. You will not touch anything. You will not touch _Anyx_ without his express permission. You will _not_ call him Harry. And you will leave and not return if Anyx wishes so. _Do you understand?_ "

The boy was wide eyed and leaning away from him, barely breathing as he trembled at the abrupt onslaught after nearly five minutes of borderline silence. "Yes, Sir!" he managed to squeak out.

Severus narrowed his eyes and glared suspiciously for a moment more before huffing and stepping back from the door, "Come in, Mr. Weasley."


	8. Chapter 8

**THE NEXT STEP**

Ron hesitantly stepped forward and through the door into the Potions Master's living quarters, skirting as close to the door frame and as far away from the imposing man as possible.

He was so focused on trying to avoid the black eyed glower that was being directed at him that he jumped when the door shut behind him with a sharp snap.

"Do sit down, Mr. Weasley," the silky voice said scornfully.

Ron finally looked up from where his gaze had been trained on the shabby toes of his sneakers and glanced around. The room was surprisingly cosy with large plush maroon rugs on the floor, black leather furniture, and warm mahogany bookshelves filled to the brim with all manner of books, scrolls, and journals. There were two armchairs and a couch dominating the area in front of the fire and Ron took a single step towards the couch before freezing in shock.

There, sitting calmly in front of the fire, was the biggest cat he had ever seen. Ron was pretty sure the beast could go toe to toe with Buckbeak and probably win. He trailed his eyes across the panther, taking in the shiny short black coat, rippling muscles, and glittering bright green eyes.

"Harry?" he breathed.

"Mr. Weasley! Did you completely ignore everything I just told you? I will evict you and let me reassure you that you will not be welcomed back!" Snape snarled from behind him.

Whirling around, Ron looked fearfully up at the man who had evidently come up just behind him while he had been looking around and was now glaring down at him even more strongly than before.

He gulped, "No, Professor. I'm sorry. I was just surprised. I won't do it again!" His voice had gone slightly desperate at the end and he couldn't even be bothered to feel embarrassed; too afraid Snape would kick him out and he wouldn't get another chance to see his best friend.

Snape stared at him, narrow eyed, for a moment more before pointing harshly towards the couch. "Sit!"

Ron hastened to obey, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. He dropped heavily onto the couch and wrung his hands together, now looking anxiously at Harry - or whatever Snape had said his name was - and unable to tear his eyes away from the cat.

"Um...Professor?" he started nervously.

"What, Weasley?" the man barked as he gracefully lowered himself into the armchair directly across from the fire.

"What is Ha - sorry! What did you say his name is now?" he looked between the panther whose gaze was roving over his form, as if cataloguing what he looked like, and his professor who was about to pick up what looked like a magazine of some sort.

"Anyx," the man said shortly before turning his attention towards the article in his hand, clearly dismissing Ron.

* * *

"Tea dear?" the matronly red haired woman asked.

"Please," Remus answered as he made his way into the kitchen of number twelve Grimmauld Place. The rich smell of beef and barley soup and fresh bread filled the air making his stomach grumble. "Thank you," he smiled at Molly as she slid a fresh cup towards him and he cradled it between his palms, letting the heat bring some much needed warmth to his cold hands.

"Moony! Is that you?" Remus heard from outside the kitchen doors, accompanied by the sound of footsteps thudding down the stairs.

The door swung open revealing the tall, thin, wild haired form of Sirius.

"Moony!" the man's somewhat gaunt face broke into a huge grin at the sight of Remus sitting at the table. "When did you get back?"

Remus smiled back at his closest friend, "Just a few minutes ago. It's rather cold out and the delicious smells of Molly's cooking were irresistible. She was kind enough to pour me a cup of tea." 

Molly blushed and waved a hand dismissively, "No problem at all dear. Dinner will be ready in about half an hour." She slid another cup of tea across the table to where Sirius had flopped down beside him before turning back to the stove, stirring the large pot of soup, sending a wave of enticing smells up into the air.

"I missed you Moony," Sirius whined, "you were gone forever!"

Remus smirked at his overgrown child of a friend. "I was only gone for three weeks. That's hardly forever."

A tapping noise at the kitchen window interrupted whatever Sirius was about to say next. Seeing a large barn owl struggling to hover, Remus rose and opened the window to let it in.

The large bird swooped around the room once before dropping a letter in front of Sirius and flying back out the window. Remus internally shrugged. Apparently whoever it was wasn't waiting on a reply. Closing the window again to block out the freezing air that had filled the room, he moved back to the table to sit beside Sirius who was opening the letter.

Remus watched as Sirius' eyes scanned the parchment, a small furrow forming between his brows.

"What is it?" he asked.

Sirius looked up, frowning, "Dumbledore. He says he's going to come be here around nine to talk to me. You're welcome to join as well apparently. He doesn't say what about though."

Remus felt a band tighten in his chest. Dumbledore coming to Headquarters to talk to various people wasn't that unusual. Dumbledore specifically sending a letter warning that he was coming, especially to Sirius who was going to be here no matter what, was. The only thing he could think of was Harry. Perhaps the Headmaster had information. But the very fact that he wasn't calling an Order meeting to plan a rescue attempt forced Remus to only assume the worst.

"Well I guess we'll just have to wait for him to arrive then," Remus said, trying to hide his unsettled feelings from the emotional animagus. No need for Sirius to get any more worked up than necessary. "Come on Padfoot, help me set the table," he swatted Sirius on the shoulder as he stood and moved towards the cupboards.

* * *

Albus flooed into Grimmauld Place just after nine and waved his wand to banish any soot that may have clung to his robes. Not seeing anybody in the parlour where he arrived he made his way towards the kitchen; the general gathering place.

Coming up on the door to the kitchen Albus could hear Sirius rambling to who he assumed was Remus about some prank or another that they had succeeded in while at Hogwarts. Albus took a moment to take a deep breath to prepare himself for what was likely to be a very emotion fraught conversation.

While Sirius had come leaps and bounds from how he was immediately after escaping Azkaban he was still rather bipolar; often swinging from one extreme emotion to another. He rarely thought carefully about what was being said or done and only reacted. The fact that this discussion was going to be about Harry added to Albus' tension. Sirius had only managed to stay somewhat sane in the years surrounded by dementors by holding onto his love for his Godson and his drive for revenge against Peter Pettigrew. Once he was out however those strong feelings didn't just go away. And with no dementors to dampen the fervour of those emotions in Sirius they had evolved into full blown compulsive obsessions.

When Albus had first informed Sirius and the others about Harry's abduction he had flown off the handle completely. If Remus hadn't been there to subdue him and feed him calming draughts and dreamless sleep potions for the next month and a half Albus was sure that the last of the Blacks would have surely run off and ended up dead in some well-intentioned but poorly planned rescue attempt. As it was, Sirius had completely destroyed several rooms in the old house in fits of rage over the last seven and a half months that Harry had been missing.

Albus was beyond glad that Remus was likely going to sit in on this meeting as the werewolf seemed to be the only one who could keep even the slightest of grasps on the wild animagi's responses.

Shoring up his nerve, Albus finally gently pushed the door open and gave the two men a smile. "Good evening, gentlemen. Perhaps we might adjourn to the sitting room?" he asked, not fully stepping into the kitchen and making it clear that although phrased as a question it was more of a directive. He did not want to have this conversation in the kitchen where Molly Weasley was likely to pop in at any moment. One overly emotional parental figure was enough for him right now.

Seeing that Remus was standing from his place at the table and Sirius had hopped down from where he had been perched on the counter Albus turned and headed down the hallway towards the formal sitting room.

Waiting for the two men to enter, Albus swung the door shut behind them and cast locking and silencing wards on it. Sirius had moved further into the dark room to light a few sconces with his wand and try to banish some of the dust from the ratty furniture and didn't see the spells cast by Albus but Remus shot him a sharp look.

Clearing his throat to gain the dark haired man's attention, Albus gestured towards the still rather dirty furniture that was situated around the room, "Let's have a seat shall we gentlemen."

"Of course, Headmaster," came Remus' soft voice as he sat in an armchair, sending a cloud of dust mites into the air. Sirius also flopped inelegantly onto a chaise lounge that looked like it might have once been a rich indigo but was now some faded yellowish brown colour with the odd blueish patch here and there. Albus also chose one of the armchairs; it looked like it should have had quite a bit of padding in it despite its threadbare appearance but all he got for his careful selection was an abrupt drop onto some rather sharp springs. Casting a barrier charm and cushioning charm between himself and the chair he decided he could stall no longer.

* * *

Remus glared at the Headmaster as Sirius lay unconscious on the lounge he had previously been sitting on. Dumbledore had valiantly attempted to sugar coat the new situation with Harry but all Sirius had heard was that Harry wasn't human anymore and was now bound to Snape permanently. He had lost it and started sending blasting curses at the door when he realized he had been locked in and was unable to get to Hogwarts to 'rescue' his Godson from 'the slimy evil Death Eater dungeon bat' forcing Remus to stun the man before he hurt himself or anyone else.

"You couldn't have thought of a better way to tell him? And why are we just learning about this now? From what you say Harry has been back for more than a week now." Remus wanted answers for himself and he also needed those answers for when he finally woke Sirius up.

Dumbledore had a rather contrite look on his wizened face, "I apologize profusely my boy. Much has happened in the last month since we thought up this plan."

Remus snapped back around to stare at the old man again from where he had been bent over Sirius, checking the man's vitals.

" _Excuse me?_ " he hissed out, eyes flashing gold. "Here I was under the impression that you yourself had only known since Harry and Severus returned but now you say that you knew for _over a month!_ And you _didn't say a Merlin damned word?!_ "

"My boy," the old man said pleadingly, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Severus only thought of the plan hours before he left and we had no way of knowing if it would even work. If anything the chances were so slim that it would work that we both were genuinely shocked when it did. I did not wish to get anyone's hopes up only for it to fail."

"That's a lousy excuse and you know it!" Remus snarled. " _Perhaps_ Sirius should not have been told, but there was absolutely no reason for you not to inform myself so that I would have had time to at least prepare somewhat to deal with Sirius' reaction no matter what the outcome." Remus shook his head disgustedly. "I understand why Severus wasn't able to inform anyone - not that he would have wanted to; though I am almost positive that he would have anyway - he was spying and now is likely still dealing with the settling bond with Harry...but you," Remus breathed deeply, "You have absolutely _no_ excuse for your oversight."

Remus watched dispassionately as the old man seemed to deflate, looking tired and worn and remorseful; Remus didn't feel even the slightest bit guilty about it either.

"You are correct my boy. I should have made an effort to ensure that the relevant people were all on the same page. I hope, someday, you might be able to forgive an old man for the folly of hoping to spare everyone some pain."

Remus just glared and didn't even pretend to be moved by the blatant attempt at emotional manipulation. He didn't know if Dumbledore even realized when he was doing it anymore. The old Headmaster was so used to being the one to make decisions for people and assuming the role of wise and all knowing leader that some things had become engraved in his personality. Just because the man might not be aware of doing it though didn't mean that Remus was going to fall for it. Not this time. Not when the last member of his pack and his cub were involved.

"I believe you should leave now, Headmaster. I will do my best to explain everything to and calm down Sirius. You should probably also call an Order Meeting to let everyone know that Harry is....not okay, but at least safe. There are more than a few who care deeply for him and many more who have been actively trying to find out any information on his whereabouts this entire time. They should not have to waste their time and resources anymore when it is not necessary." Remus continued to stare angrily at the Headmaster as the old man sighed and rose to his feet, brushing dust off his robes.

"Thank you, Remus. I will indeed call a Meeting soon; you make an excellent point," Dumbledore turned towards the door, removing the various enchantments he had placed on it earlier.

Remus watched as the man left after a moment's pause, realizing that he would not receive a farewell from the angry werewolf. Hearing the _woosh_ of the floo activating moments later Remus finally was able to force his wolf down a bit further, feeling his eyes tingle as he was sure the gold was bleeding out to be replaced with his natural hazel.

Turning back to the unconscious man on the daybed, curly black shoulder length hair splayed in every direction, lips slack, and dark shadows under the man's closed eyes, Remus drew a fortifying breath as he pulled his wand to wake Sirius up.

This was going to be exhausting.

* * *

Hermione was going spare. It had been over a week since Professor Dumbledore had told her and Ron about what had happened to Harry and she had torn apart the Hogwarts library trying to find anything useful. After having no success at all she had owl ordered every single book Flourish and Blotts had on the topic of familiars and bonds and she was sure she was going to hear an earful from her parents for spending so much money at once.

Once she had gone through all of those as well and still had nothing to show for it she began to look into slightly...less legal...options. She had asked Professor Flitwick for a pass to the Restricted Section of the library under the guise of wishing to research some very high level potions. He had agreed and given her the pass as he knew that even if the Potions Master was back in residence now he was not available to the general Hogwarts populace currently and even if he had been Professor Snape was highly unlikely to give a pass to anyone other than his NEWTs students.

She had shown the pass to a rather skeptical Madame Pince but had been allowed access with a stern warning to not damage anything under pain of expulsion. 

Hermione was now scanning the old, mainly leather bound - though a few looked like they might be bound with human skin - books of all different sizes hoping for something useful to stand out.

Seeing one book bound in a greenish leather with a flaking gold title along the spine, _Bonds and How to Break Them,_ she reached towards it with a slightly shaky hand. Her sleep deprivation had gotten to the point that she was running on coffee and pepper ups at this point and little else.

Pulling the heavy tome down and resting it on the single small table, she flipped it open to the contents page. _Familiars in Bond_ , _Chapter 12_. Her heart started racing. This could be it. She flipped rapidly through the old, worn pages trying not to get her hopes up too much.

_'The familiar bond is one of three soul bonds that one can attain. Often thought to only be breakable through death, the true familiar bond is nearly untouchable by most magics._

_To break the familiar bond of another requires the use of a ritual to be done skyclad on the dark of the moon._

_A nine point circle with a path of molten silver, fires of white standing but for red at point of sunrise. Nine slain of any kin, corpses to stand beyond fires as guard. A piece of master and creature to mix with_ Exstinguunt _in bowl of clay at centre. Twenty and seven of verse, unbroken. Bowl set ablaze as close.'_

The book went on to detail both the chant to be said and the ingredients and recipe for the potion. Hermione was giddy. She almost felt like she had the time she had had her one wisdom tooth removed and the dentist had given her laughing gas as a sedative. This was what she had been looking for. A way to free Harry.

She reread the passage again. The instructions were a bit vague and while she was pretty sure she knew what most of it meant, she decided to pull some reference to double check. No way was she going to fail at this after so long just because she wanted to rush ahead. Either way the new moon was still a week and a half away.

Quickly copying down the entire passage onto a piece of parchment she pulled from her ever present beaded bag she regretfully put the book back on the shelf. Madame Pince would never allow her to take it from the library and if she tried to sneak it out all kinds of alarm spells would go off. Spending the next three hours in the small room of the Restricted Section, Hermione made notes of all her references from various books that better explained the different terms before finally heading out for the evening.

As she left the library she couldn't help feeling an excited buzz beneath her skin. She knew she was only at the beginning of her goal but at least now she had a plan.

That night, for the first time in a week, she slept soundly.


End file.
